Construction in the U.S. dropped by a little more than 1 percent in February, according to data that measure the dollar value of the volume of construction performed nationwide, released by the U.S. Census Bureau today.

The $808.9 billion spent on construction in the U.S. was down 1.1 percent from December’s total of $818.1 billion. Of that, $527.29 million was spent privately, with $280.84 million spent on residential construction, relatively even from the amount spent in January — $246.39 million — and up 5.6 percent year-over-year, from $233.40 in February 2011. [more]

New residential construction surged nationwide November to its highest level of the year, and more building permits were issued than in any other month in 2011, according to a report released today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Housing starts in November stood at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 685,000, 9.3 percent above October’s estimate and a 24.3 percent increase over November 2010. The uptick was most profound in structures with five or more units, as that market segment gained 32.2 percent month-over-month and 180.5 percent year-over-year. — Adam Fusfeld
[more]

The country’s most likely first-time homeowners — young professionals and couples starting families — are being forced to hold off purchasing a home, the New York Daily News reported, a fact which is keeping the housing market consistently depressed.

Despite prices having dropped to 2002 levels, prospective buyers are facing substantial down payments and debt from credit cards and student loans. The proportion of U.S. households that own homes is at 65.1 percent, the Census Bureau reports, its lowest point since 1996.
[more]

An increasing number of Manhattan neighborhoods are feeling empty, residents said, because of a jump in the number of wealthy out-of-towners buying pieds-à-terre and unused investment properties in the city, the New York Times reported.
Since 2000, Manhattan apartments occupied by absentee owners and renters have increased by more than 70 percent, the Times said, to nearly 34,000, from 19,000.
A large area on the East Side bounded by Fifth and Park Avenues and East 49th and 70th Streets sees about 30 percent of more than 5,000 apartments routinely vacant more than 10 months a year, according to the Census Bureau’s latest American Community Survey. [more]

In a small boost for the flailing housing market, U.S. sales of new single-family homes rose by 11.1 percent in March 2011 to 300,000, exceeding the appalling February low of 270,000. They still fell, however, 21.9 percent lower than the same figures last year, according to data released today by the Commerce Department. The median sales price of new homes sold in March 2011 was $213,800 compared with $207,700 in February; the average sales price was $246,800. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new homes for sale at the end of March was 183,000. That represents a supply of 7.3 months at the current sales rate. Sales were up 66.7 percent in the Northeast, and down only 0.6 percent in the South since February.TRD
[more]

Sales of new U.S. single-family homes rose to their highest level in eight months in December, after surging 17.5 percent over the rate of new home sales recorded the month before, according to the latest report from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. As 2010 came to a close, new homes were selling at an annual rate of 329,000 — 7.6 percent below the December 2009 rate of 356,000 — with a median price of $241,500. Overall, there were 321,000 new homes sold in 2010 at a median price of $221,900. TRD

National vacancy rates in the third quarter of this year were 10.3 percent for rental housing, a .8 percent year-over-year decrease from 2009, according to data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. The vacancy rate was 2.5 percent for homeowner housing, a .1 percent year-over-year decrease from 2009, and a .3 percent decrease from last quarter. In the third quarter of 2010, approximately 85.6 percent of housing units in the United States were occupied and 14.4 percent were vacant. Owner-occupied housing made up 57.3 percent of total housing units, while renter-occupied units accounted for 28.3 percent of the inventory. TRD

[more]

While the greater New York City area is notorious for its expensive rental market, a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that the greater San Jose and San Francisco markets have the first- and second-priciest rental rates, respectively. The report, released today, says that the New York City metro area’s median gross rent was at $1,125 — making it sixth in the nation. The report lumps New York City, Northern New Jersey and Long Island into one market, and notes that the region only barely beats the seventh-priciest market, Boston, which had median gross rent of $1,123. TRD

[more]

Construction spending fell nationwide for the third month in a row in July 2010, this time to its lowest level in 10 years, according to a report released today by the U.S. Department of Commerce. July’s $805 billion annual spending rate was 1 percent below June’s $813.1 billion rate and 10.7 percent below the $901.2 billion level recorded in July 2009. The private residential construction sector, which has been battered by gloomy reports since the expiration of the federal homebuyer tax credit in June, saw a 2.6 percent decline in spending — to an annual rate of $240.3 billion — since June but a 5.5 percent increase over July 2009. Meanwhile, spending in the hotel sector, in which construction has come to a near-standstill, declined by another 1.7 percent month-over-month to $11.6 billion annually, which also represents a more than 53 percent year-over-year drop. And public construction projects aren’t rushing to the construction industry’s rescue: spending on public projects dropped to $298.8 billion yearly in July, down 1.2 percent from June and 7.9 percent from last year. As of the end of July, the 2010 tally of construction spending of any kind was $460 billion. By July 2009, U.S. builders had spent $522 billion for the year on construction projects. TRD

[more]

New U.S. single-family home sales declined to their lowest-ever recorded rate, in July, according to a report released today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The annual rate of 276,000 houses last month was 12.4 percent below June’s rate and 32.4 percent below the rate during July 2009, despite record-low mortgage rates and prices near their bottom. The report comes on the heels of less-than-optimistic numbers for existing home sales released yesterday by the National Association of Realtors, which showed that sales in that sector declined in July to their lowest level since the 1990s. July was the first month following the expiration of the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers, which may have contributed to the sagging sales numbers. TRD

[more]