Building Market Intelligence

Consumers have remained amazingly confident during a housing market downturn that has lasted two years. However, we believe that is about to change. Consumer Confidence is heavily dependent on the sense of job security, and that sense is quickly eroding. …

Today, we are launching our 4th monthly e-mail newsletter, entitled Community Building Market Intelligence™. This e-mail is a complement to our U.S., Local and Strategic Building Market Intelligence™ e-mails and is designed to help builders maximize profits on their communities. …

For prices to return to their historical median ratio of housing costs / income, national prices would need to revert back to mid-2004 levels. This would be a 14% correction in price, assuming stable mortgage rates (an iffy assumption at …

In March 2004, home buyers with an adjustable-rate mortgage could qualify for a $450,000 mortgage. Today, that same buyer can only qualify for a $349,000 mortgage – a decline of 23%. When you now add to the equation that the …

The public builders in our industry are reporting record writeoffs, yet many in our industry continue to view this downturn as temporary. Even more disturbing is the lack of effort we see among some firms to react passionately to save …

With so much doom and gloom in the market, we are going to focus on the positive this month. Here are our favorite markets. We are certain that there are great opportunities in almost every market in the country. Favorite …

The real bears in this market believe housing will lead the economy into recession. Thus far, these bears are wrong. The housing market peaked in June 2005 and, two years into the downturn, economic growth is still positive. Unemployment remains …

We calculated how much prices would have to fall for housing costs (including mortgage payments, property taxes and down payments) to return to each market’s typical ratio of housing costs / income. We identified 10 markets where prices will have …

Spooked by declining home prices and rising delinquencies/foreclosures, lenders are now becoming more restrictive when issuing residential loans, approaching levels not seen since the post-S&L crisis of the early 1990s. The Federal Reserve’s most recent Survey of Senior Loan Officers …