New-home construction plunges to lowest level since May 2020

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: MarketWatch

Economic Report
New-home construction plunges to lowest level since May 2020
Housing starts posted a bigger-than-expected drop in July

By Aarthi Swaminathan
Last Updated: Aug. 16, 2024 at 9:54 a.m. ET
First Published: Aug. 16, 2024 at 8:38 a.m. ET

The numbers: Construction of new homes fell 6.8% in July compared with the previous month, as builders scaled back new projects.

Housing starts fell to a 1.24 million annual pace from 1.33 million in June, the government said Friday. That’s how many houses would be built over an entire year if construction were to continue at the same rate each month as in July.

{paywall}

Read more: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-home-construction-plunges-to-lowest-level-since-may-2020-f30718d8

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Let's rehab everything instead

And while we're on the subject, can't consumers get better terms for rehab projects than HELOC rates? The equity is being put into the house.

[paleotn]

2. Another breathless data point.

Wake me up in a couple months when we have more data. Then we'll talk.

[IbogaProject]

3. Record heat likely reason

I think builders focused on mostly finished properties that had ventilation. Again this is just the wealthy backed media looking for anything they can say is bad. This drop was basically a few percent drop. The record heat can reasonably explain a slight drop in 'starts'.

[maxsolomon]

4. Interest rates.

Waiting for that Fed cut.

[Bengus81]

5. Yeah...cuts which should have been done in Q1. If Powell cuts rates by .25% in the fall nothing will happen.

[maxsolomon]

6. Not so sure. There's a lot of holding back right now.

Developers need to develop, Contractors need to construct. I'd expect an uptick.

[Cheezoholic]

7. The crap they're building, at least around here, is ridiculous. New home construction is a flawed corrupt economic model

They're going in leveling the landscape and putting in these ridiculously large 4-6ksq foot homes selling for 400-800k all around Indy. These houses are less than 10 feet from each other, no trees except a few new 6ft tall plantings, maybe a fountain in a pond that was dug up to backfill these ugly places. It's a repeat of the 90's all over again. They are fucking ugly as sin and there usually only 3 or 4 designs so its a mass of monotony where you can have 3k a month house payments and your neighbor can toss you a roll of toilet paper window to window. There is 0 privacy.

They're already expanding in some places into what were just 10 years ago, small towns whose residence's are now being property taxed out of their older perfectly good smaller housing to make way for the yupped out suburbia nickel millionaire wannabes.

Farther out the corn fields are shrinking up as a new generation whose inherited the family land is selling it off a few acres here and there to people willing to pay 50k an acre to build even bigger ugly ass monstrosities "timber style" with 4 car garages so they feel like they're in the country roughing it with a spotless 80k dollar F250 in the driveway that gets loaded with 3 bags of grocery's 3 times a week. Hey assholes, you're still in the middle of a cornfield and Monsanto is going to guarantee your off spring has 3 eyeballs.

My god I've seen this happen everywhere I've ever lived and it never ends well. It's criminal in my opinion. This is doing nothing to solve the housing crisis in this country. If anything it's drawing financial resources away from who really need and want homes.

They started tearing these monstrosities down in Fl after 2008 because they couldn't sell them and for what? To do it all over again....Yay. What a fucking scam.