Good afternoon —
I recently read this local news article on different Texas housing markets that ranked the Dallas-Fort Worth metro as "jalapeno hot," while Austin is considered "habanero hot." What about your market? Is it only slightly crazy, say Guajillo hot? Or does it fall into the burning-a-path-through-your-digestive-track/need-a-fire-extinguisher Napa Viper category?
No matter where you look, housing markets are suffering from low inventory — the topic of two of our stories today.
The first concerns NAR, which released a report showing that we're about 5.5 million units short of historical housing levels. The trade group called for a "major national commitment" to build more housing of all types by expanding resources, addressing barriers to new development and making new housing construction an integral part of a national infrastructure strategy.
It won't be easy — the report notes that in order to fill the underbuilding gap in the next 10 years, we need to build more than 2 million housing units every year — an increase of more than 700,000 units per year relative to the pace of housing production in 2020.
Good thing the second story offers us a glimpse of hope on this front! Single-family housing starts in May were up 4.2% from April, although single-family completions were down 2.6%. BUT, the total number of homes under construction increased 1.2% — the 12th consecutive monthly increase. And with lumber prices finally coming down, the industry is hopeful that home construction can pick up speed.
"With a strong backlog of homes sold-but-not-yet-started, we expect some upward movement in single-family starts in the coming months as delayed and put-off projects are initiated," Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan said.
In the meantime, we've got you covered on how to compete even in a Carolina Reaper market! Tomorrow we're hosting our engage.marketing virtual summit with sessions on succeeding in a hot purchase market, social strategy sessions, capturing buyers at the right moment in their home-buying journey and so much more!! (Including Doug Duncan talking about his forecast, actually!) You don't want to miss this — register here.
Until tomorrow —
Sarah Wheeler
HousingWire Editor in Chief
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