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Tag: survey

Home Price Increases Starting to Overcome Low Mortgage Rate Benefit

October 21, 2020 by Zelman & Associates

In 2019, the median and average new home cost $321,500 and $383,900, according to the Census Bureau. However, with almost 95% of purchases financed with a mortgage, it is not the total cost, but rather the monthly payment...
Pandemic or Inventory – What is Driving Relative Strength in New Home Sales?

July 16, 2020 by Zelman & Associates

In so many ways, COVID-19 has altered the way one might describe their home – a place to shelter, their office, a school room, a safe haven, and more. With that has come many opinions and surveys about how consumers are thinking about owning versus renting, urban locations versus the suburbs or expensive job centers versus... 
What Might Plunge in Multi-Family Operator Sentiment Mean?

April 23, 2020 by Zelman & Associates

Like most businesses, multi-family operators and developers are navigating unprecedented conditions resulting from COVID-19, led by uncertainty related to rent collections, spiking unemployment, capital availability ...
If New Home Demand is So Strong, Why Has Start Activity Been So Lackluster?

September 20, 2019 by Zelman & Associates

This week, the Census Bureau reported its estimate for August single-family housing starts and permits. Positively, seasonally-adjusted starts accelerated to an annualized pace of 919,000, representing the strongest level since January and ...

“Steep Slowdown” on the Horizon for Home Improvements?

July 26, 2019 by Zelman & Associates

Last week, The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University (JCHS) released its Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) with a concerning headline: “Steep Slowdown Projected in Home Improvements.” We first wrote about the ...

Zillow Has Ambitious iBuyer Goals, but Its Own Price Index Missed Market Shift

May 17, 2019 by Zelman & Associates

With more than 180 million unique monthly users of Zillow’s website or mobile app, the brand is clearly a dominant force with consumers. While it has historically monetized this audience indirectly through advertising sold to real estate professionals, ...

Industry Executives Quicker to Respond to Market Shifts than Economists

January 11, 2019 by Zelman & Associates

With total home closings estimated to have declined 2% in 2018, the first contraction since 2011, and inventory higher on a year-over-year basis for the first time since 2014, the home price appreciation outlook is coming under greater scrutiny ...

Apartment Executives’ Sentiment Index Indicates Further Softness in Trends

February 23, 2018 by Zelman & Associates

Once a month, we survey private multi-family operators, developers, brokers and lenders to gauge fundamental trends across the sector. Our survey covers roughly 1.5 million institutional-quality units and developers that accounted for 9% of ...

Home Improvement Outlook Strong, but Discount Overly Optimistic Forecasts

January 26, 2018 by Zelman & Associates

It is our opinion that no single data source appropriately captures consumer home improvement spending trends, with limitations for many of the often-cited statistics such as retail sales for building material locations and construction spending ...

Do You Realize the Unreliability of Widely-Cited Construction Spending Statistics?

October 06, 2017 by Zelman & Associates

Every month, the Census Bureau publishes The Value of Construction Put in Place Survey, which is intended to provide monthly estimates of the total dollar value of construction work done in the United States. As it relates to the residential ...