U.S. residential construction showed good health in 2019. Negative forecasts for 2020
An additional measure of the residential market’s strength in 2019, new single-family home sales were at their highest level in twelve years: the 681,000 units sold in 2019 represented a robust 10.3% increase from the previous year. The NAHB predicts the upward trend will continue in 2020, with new single-family home sales’ reaching an annual total of 708,000 units.
Another good sign for the U.S. housing market was that foreclosure filings, a key inverse indicator of the residential market’s health, fell for the ninth straight year and were at their lowest level since tracking began in 2005. The 493,000 filings (0.36% of all U.S. housing units) recorded in 2019 reflected a 21.1% decline from the previous year.
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 3.94% last year, down from 4.54% in 2018. This represented the fourth lowest annual rate on record.
Last year, overall U.S. construction spending (including both private and public residential and non-residential construction) declined slightly year-over-year for the first time since 2011 and was at an estimated $1.3 trillion (-0.3%), but still at its second highest point on record.
Below, the charts with the latest updates provided by Joseph Lundgren Consulting