National Housing Market Conditions, Second Quarter 2014

National Housing Market Conditions, Second Quarter 2014

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research has released the National Housing Market Summary for the second quarter of 2014, which contains updates on production, marketing, multifamily housing performance, homeownership, and affordability statistics for the second quarter of 2014. The report includes comparisons with the previous quarter and the second quarter of 2013.

The analysis indicates that during the second quarter of 2014, housing market indicators improved. Housing starts, particularly for multifamily housing, rebounded and delinquency and foreclosure rates fell to their lowest level in more than six years. While purchases of new homes were down, sales of existing homes showed improvement. Sales were weak, reflecting tighter credit and fewer distressed properties on the market. Housing affordability fell from the previous quarter, while home prices continued to rise. Rental vacancies declined for both single-family and multifamily units.

Key Findings

• The number of building permits rose in the second quarter. Permits for single-family homes were up 3% from the first quarter, but down 1% from a year ago. Multifamily permits increased 2% from the previous quarter and 8% from one year earlier.

• Single-family housing construction starts increased 5% from the previous quarter, as well as 6% from one year earlier. Multifamily starts were 14% higher than the previous quarter and 38% higher than the previous year.

• Purchases of new single-family homes, at 419,000, were down 3% from the previous quarter and 6% from one year earlier. However, sales of existing homes, including single-family, townhomes, cooperatives, and condominiums, were up 6% from the first quarter but down 5% from a year earlier.

• The homeownership rate, at 64.7% in the second quarter, is below the historic norm of 65% and decreased from 64.8% in the first quarter and 65% a year ago. For white non-Hispanics and Hispanics, the homeownership rate remained the same at 72.9% and 45.8%, respectively, while black non-Hispanics saw an increase to 44.3% from 44% in the first quarter.

• The overall rental market vacancy rate decreased from 8.3% in the first quarter to 7.5% in the second and was down from 8.2% from a year earlier.