Strong Sales

While single-family starts are up 11% YTD and single-family permits are up 7.2% YTD, multifamily starts are down 1% and multifamily permits are down 17%, suggesting multifamily activity has peaked. Separately, new home sales are strengthening. The 727,000 seasonally-adjusted annual sales in July were the best since 10/07! Maybe it’s because new home price growth has flatlined because new home sizes have been essentially shrinking for five straight quarters.