Latest news with #BuddyHughes
Epoch Times
23-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
1 in 7 US Home Purchase Deals Were Canceled in April: Redfin
Around 56,000 agreements to purchase homes were canceled across the United States last month amid an environment of economic uncertainty and high housing costs, according to real estate brokerage Redfin. The canceled agreements made up one in seven (14.3 percent) of homes that went under contract in April, higher than 2024's 13.5 percent, Redfin said in a May 22 'Redfin agents report that some buyers are getting cold feet due to widespread economic and political uncertainty. Tariffs, layoffs, and federal policy changes are among the factors prompting people to stay put instead of move,' the brokerage said. The downturn in buyer sentiment is happening as the housing inventory is at a five-year high. Despite adequate supply, demand is slowing, 'meaning the buyers who are in the market often have room to negotiate,' Redfin said. 'Some house hunters are backing out during the inspection period because a better house has or might come along.' Meanwhile, both home prices and mortgage rates remain 'stubbornly high,' the company said. Related Stories 5/21/2025 5/21/2025 The average sales Among the 44 major U.S. metropolitan areas analyzed by Redfin, Atlanta ranked first in terms of canceled deals, with one in five pending home sales falling through last month. This was followed by Orlando, Tampa, Riverside, and Miami in Florida. In a May 22 On the plus side, 'the pullback will likely be short-lived with Zillow anticipating 4.12 million home sales in 2025—that's 1.4 percent higher than in 2024,' it said. 'Zillow data confirms a small rebound in the number of homes going under contract in the first two weeks of May. The early May data suggests that perhaps this year's peak home shopping activity may have been delayed.' Housing Affordability According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Cost of Housing Index, a family making $104,200—the nation's median annual income—had to set aside 36 percent of their earnings to meet mortgage payments on a median-priced new home in the first quarter this year, NAHB said in a May 22 'The Cost of Housing Index clearly shows the need for policymakers to take action to address the nation's housing affordability crisis by enacting policies that will allow builders to increase the nation's housing supply,' said NAHB Chairman Buddy Hughes. 'Eliminating burdensome regulations, ending tariffs on Canadian lumber and other building materials, providing funding to promote careers in the skilled trades, and expediting approvals for affordable projects will allow builders to construct more homes.' Meanwhile, there is uncertainty as to how low mortgage rates could fall given the recent downgrade of the United States' credit rating by Moody's. The rating agency The weekly rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has risen consecutively for the past two weeks and was at 6.86 percent for the week ending May 22, the highest level since around mid-February. In a May 22 'Pent-up housing demand continues to grow, though not realized. Any meaningful decline in mortgage rates will help release this demand.'
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US Homebuilder Sentiment Slides to Lowest Level Since 2023
(Bloomberg) -- Confidence among US homebuilders slumped in May to the lowest level since late 2023, as tariffs made it harder to price homes and anxious consumers dragged their feet on purchases. As Coastline Erodes, One California City Considers 'Retreat Now' How a Highway Became San Francisco's Newest Park Power-Hungry Data Centers Are Warming Homes in the Nordics Maryland's Credit Rating Gets Downgraded as Governor Blames Trump NYC Commuters Brace for Chaos as NJ Transit Rail Strike Looms An index of overall market conditions from the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo slipped 6 points to 34 this month. That trailed all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists. All three components that make up the index fell, with a measure of expected sales in the next six months sliding to an 18-month low. A gauge of present sales dropped to the lowest since late 2022, while traffic of prospective buyers was the weakest in 1 1/2 years. 'The spring home buying season has gotten off to a slow start as persistent elevated interest rates, policy uncertainty and building material cost factors hurt builder sentiment in May,' NAHB Chairman Buddy Hughes, a builder and developer from Lexington, North Carolina, said in a statement. Builders face a host of challenges that include stubbornly high mortgage rates, faltering consumer confidence and government policy that risk further restraining housing demand. Builder sentiment fell in all four US regions in May. President Donald Trump, who has pledged to remove burdensome regulations, has also imposed tariffs that the NAHB estimates could boost construction costs by $10,900 a home. However, a recent trade agreement with the UK and a reduction in tariffs with China are 'a welcome development,' NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz said in a statement. Nearly 80% of builders reported having difficulty pricing homes because of uncertainty around materials costs, Dietz said. In May, 34% of builders reported cutting prices, the largest share since December 2023, NAHB said. The share of builders reporting using sales incentives was unchanged at 61%. Cartoon Network's Last Gasp DeepSeek's 'Tech Madman' Founder Is Threatening US Dominance in AI Race Why Obesity Drugs Are Getting Cheaper — and Also More Expensive As Nuclear Power Makes a Comeback, South Korea Emerges a Winner Trump Has Already Ruined Christmas ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Epoch Times
23-04-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
New Home Sales at 6-Month High
Sales of new single-family houses in March 2025 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 724,000, a six-month high, according to The sales number was higher than the latest estimate in The sales increase follows mortgage rates ticking down in March. After spiking at 7.04 percent in January, 30-year fixed rates had come down steadily to 6.65 percent by the end of March, according to The rate has since gone up, and was at 6.83 percent, for the week ending April 17. 'The March new home sales data shows that demand continues to be present in the market, provided affordability conditions permit a purchase,' Buddy Hughes, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), said in an April 23 Census figures put the median sales price of new houses sold in March 2025 at $403,600, 1.9 percent lower than February's price, and 7.5 percent lower than in 2024. The average sales price in March 2025 was $497,700. Related Stories 4/19/2025 4/23/2025 'Lower mortgage interest rates helped boost the pace of new home sales in March,' said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. A new home sale is recorded when a sales contract is signed or a deposit is accepted. The house does not need to be built for the sale to be recorded. Out of the 724,000 homes sold last month, 28,000 were sold in the Northeast, 69,000 in the Midwest, 144,000 in the West, and 483,000 in the South. Home sales declined by 22.2 percent in the Northeast while increasing by 13.6 percent in the South. Canada Dumping Lumber Housing construction costs are dependent on key input prices, especially for lumber. Lumber There is concern about tariff-related increases, but it hasn't yet affected prices. President Donald Trump had exempted Canada from the global tariffs he imposed on countries earlier this month. Canada is a major supplier of lumber and wood products to the United States, accounting for a major share of the imports. Trump addressed the issue in a statement last month. 'The wood products industry, composed of timber, lumber, and their derivative products (such as paper products, furniture, and cabinetry) is a critical manufacturing industry essential to the national security, economic strength, and industrial resilience of the United States,' Trump said in a March 1 'This industry plays a vital role in key downstream civilian industries, including construction. 'The United States faces significant vulnerabilities in the wood supply chain from imported timber, lumber, and their derivative products being dumped onto the United States market.' He said the United States remains a net importer even as the country's lumber industry has the practical production capacity to supply 95 percent of market demand. Trump ordered the Department of Commerce to investigate the effects on national security of imports of timber, lumber, and their derivative products. On March 4, the Commerce Department issued a The final results are set to be announced later this year along with corresponding duty rates. Dumping margins refer to artificial price deflations that a country, in this case Canada, imposes on products such as lumber when exporting to the United States. The price reductions primarily work to undercut domestic producers.
Epoch Times
23-04-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
US Home Prices Rise at Slowest Pace in More Than 2 Years: Report
Home prices across the United States increased by 0.2 percent in March from February, the slowest pace of gain since December 2022, real estate brokerage Redfin said in an April 22 'Home prices were up 4.6 percent on a year-over-year basis, down from 5.1 percent growth in February. That's the 11th consecutive month that annual growth has slowed and the first time it dipped below 5 percent since August 2023,' it said. According to Redfin, home price growth is slowing down since the rising number of homes for sale being listed in the market is outstripping home-buying demand. Except for in certain areas of the United States, especially in the Midwest, where demand remains steady, buyers across the country are generally backing away from the market, the brokerage said. 'Homes are taking longer to sell and prices are falling in some areas because fear of a broader economic slowdown is pushing many would-be buyers to the sidelines,' said Redfin senior economist Sheharyar Bokhari. 'New tariffs are adding to the economic uncertainty, and prices may slow even further in coming months. With housing costs at near-record highs, that's a silver lining for a buyer who has to move right now, as there will be more room for negotiation.' Related Stories 4/21/2025 4/19/2025 Out of the 50 most populous U.S. metropolitan areas analyzed by the brokerage, home prices declined on a monthly basis in 20 of them. The largest decline was in Columbus, Ohio, at 0.7 percent, followed by Denver and San Jose, California. San Francisco registered the biggest monthly gain at 2.7 percent, with Nassau County in New York and Milwaukee rounding up the top three. According to Fannie Mae, the prices of single-family homes grew by 5.2 percent between the first quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, the company said in an April 17 Last year, national home prices had grown by 5.8 percent. Fannie Mae's Home Price Expectations Survey, which polled a panel of more than 100 housing experts, Weakening Construction There are signs of housing construction weakening. In March, housing starts dropped by 11.4 percent from a month back, with single-family housing starts declining by 14.2 percent, according to April 17 Buddy Hughes, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), said the 'drop in March housing starts is a clear signal that affordability pressures are intensifying,' according to an April 17 'Elevated mortgage rates and rising construction costs are making it increasingly difficult to deliver homes at price points accessible to entry-level buyers. We're seeing demand soften as more potential homeowners are priced out of the market,' he said. Danushka Nanayakkara-Skillington, NAHB's assistant vice president for forecasting and analysis, said the March decline in housing production indicates the ongoing struggle to balance the need for affordable housing with construction costs. 'High material prices and labor shortages continue to challenge our ability to build homes that meet the budget constraints of many families,' Nanayakkara-Skillington said. 'Without targeted policy support, addressing the affordability crisis remains an uphill battle.' An April 18 Zillow is expecting home values to dip by 1.9 percent this year, revised down from the previous expectation of a 0.6 percent increase. The company said elevated mortgage rates and rising listings are indicating potential price dips by the end of the year. Existing home sales are forecast to rise by 3.3 percent from last year, to 4.2 million units in 2025. 'As spring arrives and the home shopping season heats up, Zillow anticipates a temporary surge in sales, followed by a normal seasonal slowdown. If home prices soften and mortgage rates decline, existing home sales could benefit from improved affordability by the end of the year,' Zillow said. Even though mortgage rates are currently in an 'unpredictable period,' the company expects rates to be close to 6.5 percent by the end of the year, 'barring unforeseen shocks.' The weekly average Sam Khater, Freddie Mac's chief economist, said in an April 17 'At this time last year, rates reached 7.1 percent while purchase application demand was 13 percent lower than it is today, a clear sign that this year's spring homebuying season is off to a stronger start,' he said.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tariff tensions shake builder confidence during critical spring housing season
The spring housing season is off to a shaky start as tariff concerns rattle builder sentiment. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index rose to 40 in April, a one-point increase from March and modestly above economists' expectations of 38, according to data polled by Bloomberg. Still, a reading below 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as poor than good. "Policy uncertainty is having a negative impact on home builders, making it difficult for them to accurately price homes and make critical business decisions," NAHB chief economist Robert Dietz wrote in the press release. Builders also reported rising costs for building materials due to tariffs. Data from the National Association of Home Builders found that 60% of builders said their suppliers have already hiked prices or are planning to increase them due to trade levies. On average, suppliers have raised prices by 6.3% in response to current, enacted, or anticipated tariffs, adding an estimated $10,900 to the cost of a new home. Read more: When will housing prices drop? Homebuilders continue to navigate a complex landscape made more uncertain by unresolved trade policies with Canada, Mexico, and China. That uncertainty has put downward pressure on a gauge of sales expectations in the next six months, which fell four points to 43 in April. Still, there were some modest gains: The gauge tracking current sales conditions rose two points in April to 45, while the metric tracking prospective buyers' traffic edged up one point to 25. "The recent dip in mortgage rates may have pushed some buyers off the fence in March, helping builders with sales activity,' NAHB chairman Buddy Hughes, a homebuilder and developer from Lexington, N.C., said in the release. "At the same time, builders have expressed growing uncertainty over market conditions as tariffs have increased price volatility for building materials at a time when the industry continues to grapple with labor shortages and a lack of buildable lots," he added. Read more: What Trump's tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet Elevated mortgage rates remain another major hurdle, with some measures showing rates nearing 7%. This persistent volatility is delivering yet another blow to the housing market during the critical spring selling season. In response, builders are actively offering incentives to help sustain sales. According to the NAHB survey, 29% of builders cut home prices in April, which was unchanged from March, with an average price reduction of 5%. Meanwhile, 61% of builders used sales incentives last month, up slightly from 59% last month Dani Romero is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @daniromerotv.
