National Housing Market Summary 2nd Quarter 2019

October 1, 2019  

National Housing Market Summary 2^nd Quarter 2019

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research has released its analysis of the national housing market during the second quarter of 2019. The report contains updates on housing construction and inventory; sales, prices, and affordability; housing finance and investment; and homeownership and vacancy. The report noted that indicators showed mixed results, but overall modest progress during the second quarter.

Key Findings

• Housing starts on single-family homes decreased, while multifamily construction increased. Single-family starts fell 2 percent compared to the prior quarter, and 5 percent compared to a year ago. Multifamily starts were up 16 percent from the previous quarter and up 13 percent from a year ago.
• Year-over-year house price increases continued to slow, with annual returns ranging from 3 to 5 percent.
• The affordability of purchasing a home fell in the second quarter, while the affordability of renting a home rose slightly. The NAR Composite Housing (Homeownership) Affordability Index decreased 2 percent in the second quarter, but was up 6.3 percent from a year earlier. HUD's Rental Affordability Index rose 0.6 percent from the previous quarter.
• Mortgage delinquencies were up for the second straight quarter, from 4.42 percent to 4.53 percent, but remain below the historic average of the overall delinquency rate of 5.36 percent.
• The national rate of homeownership dropped for a second consecutive quarter, as the rental market vacancy rate fell for both single-family and multifamily housing. The homeownership rate was down a tenth of a percent from the prior quarter and stood at 64.1 percent. In the rental market, the overall vacancy rate decreased to 6.8 percent from 7 percent the previous quarter.

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