Thread: US New Home Sales Soar to Highest Level in a Decade

US New Home Sales Soar to Highest Level in a Decade

US new home sales jumped nearly 19 percent last month to highest level in nearly a decade.

Oct. 25, 2017, at 11:28 a.m.


US New Home Sales Soar to Highest Level in a Decade



This Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017, photo shows a new home for sale in a housing development in Raeford, N.C. On Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017, the Commerce Department reports on sales of new homes in September. (AP Photo/Swayne B. Hall)

The Associated Press
By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of new U.S. homes jumped last month to the highest level since October 2007, a sign that Americans — unable to find existing homes — are turning to new construction. Damage from last month's hurricanes may have also inflated the data.

New home sales leapt 18.9 percent in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 667,000, the most in a decade, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Sales rose in all regions including the South, where they increased nearly 26 percent.

The government said it couldn't estimate what impact, if any, last month's hurricanes had on the data. But the measure of new home sales is based on contract signings, so the number was likely lifted by those looking to replace homes destroyed or damaged by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

"This is yet another sign that, as we first saw with the initial jobless claims data, the recovery from Harvey was very fast and the disruption from Irma in Florida was far less than initially feared," said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities.


Still, sales of new homes also jumped outside hurricane-affected areas, including in the Northeast, where they rose 33 percent, and the Midwest, where they rose nearly 11 percent. Sales in West ticked up 3 percent.

A supply crunch of existing homes has frustrated many would-be buyers and hobbled the housing market this year. September's figures suggest that Americans are increasingly looking to new homes instead, which could encourage more construction.

Yet developers have struggled to keep up with demand. Many construction firms say they have difficulty finding the workers they need to start new projects.

Construction of single-family homes slipped nearly 5 percent last month. Still, thanks to large increases over the summer, single-family homebuilding remains 5.9 percent higher than a year ago. Builders also obtained more permits for new building last month. That suggests home building could accelerate in the coming months.

Developers are feeling optimistic. A survey by the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo found that their outlook is the brightest it has been since May.

Homebuilders are increasingly focused on higher-priced housing, potentially freezing out potential buyers of more modest incomes. The average price of a new home rose to $385,200 in September, the highest on records dating back to 1963.

Last month, 19,000 homes were sold for $500,000 or higher, more than the 13,000 that were sold for $200,000 or less.

https://www.usnews.com/news/business...el-in-a-decade

Act fast, Southern California! Homes selling 23% faster


Homes for sale. File photo)2 COMMENTSBy JONATHAN LANSNER | jlansner@scng.com | Orange County Register

PUBLISHED: October 25, 2017 at 7:00 am | UPDATED: October 25, 2017 at 9:13 am

Southern California’s house hunters must move 23 percent faster this year to find a residence to buy.

ReportsOnHousing found Southern California had 29,635 existing homes listed for sale on broker networks Oct. 19.

That’s down 5,906 or 17 percent vs. a year ago. Meanwhile, the four-county region had 13,645 new escrows in the previous 30 days — up 1,124 or 9 percent in a year.

By comparing inventory with the pace of new purchases, ReportsOnHousing shows the estimated “market time” a homeowner’s property went from listing to escrow was down by 20 days in a year to 65 days, or a 23 percent faster pace.

“The storyline for 2017 is that there simply have not been enough homes on the market, fueling the already hot demand,” said ReportsOnHousing’s Steve Thomas.

“Continued low rates have also stoked the fires of demand here in SoCal. Home values have been on the rise and will continue to march upward as long as the inventory shortage continues, which it will in 2018.”

The speed of selling was faster in all four Southern California counties vs. 2016.

Riverside County quickened the most. Its 7,847 listings, down 20 percent in a year, when compared with 3,610 escrows, up 38 percent, equaled a market time of 65 days. That’s down 47 days in a year.

San Bernardino County’s acceleration ranked second. Its 4,965 listings, down 14 percent, came as 2,124 escrows opened, up 6 percent. Market time fell 16 days in a year to 70 days.

Los Angeles County’s 11,608 listings, down 15 percent, came as 5,518 escrows opened, up 2 percent. Market time fell 12 days in a year to 63 days.

Orange County was the lone county with falling new escrows. Its 5,215 listings, down 18 percent, compared to 2,393 escrows, down 4 percent. Market time fell 11 days in a year to 65 days.

Home prices rose in September throughout Southern California, pushing the regionwide median to its bubble-era high of $505,000 for the first time in a decade, CoreLogic reported this week. Los Angeles County’s median hit an all-time high of $575,000 for a third straight month. The median price in Riverside County was $360,000; San Bernardino was $325,000.

A late-summer surge in home buying pushed Orange County housing prices to record highs. The median price of a home — or the price at the midpoint of all transactions — hit $710,000 last month, up 10.9 percent year over year, housing tracker CoreLogic reported Tuesday.

http://www.ocregister.com/2017/10/25...ing-23-faster/

Planning Commission approves up to 2,150 homes at Pier 70

28-acre site plan would transform Potrero Point

BY ADAM BRINKLOW AUG 25, 2017, 1:16PM PDT


The Forest City plan for Pier 70, east of Dogpatch. Courtesy Forest City

The San Francisco Planning Commission unanimously approved a 28-acre mixed-use development at Pier 70 on Thursday that could create as many as 2,150 new homes and millions of square feet of commercial space east of Dogpatch.
But the precise specs of any eventual development at the pier remain ambiguous, as the city and developer Forest City weigh two different visions of the pier plan. One pushes more housing:

Development under the Maximum Residential Scenario on the 28-acre site would include a maximum of up to 3,410,830 square feet in new and renovated buildings (excluding square footage allocated to parking).

Under this scenario, there would be up to 2,150 residential units (up to approximately 710 studio/one-bedroom units and 1,440 two- or more bedroom units) [...] as well as approximately 1,095,650 square feet of commercial space and 445,180 square feet of of RALI [restaurant, arts, light industrial] space.

But the package also comes with a competing Maximum Commercial Scenario:

The Maximum Commercial Scenario would include [...] up to 1,100 residential units (up to approximately 365 studio/one-bedroom units and 735 two- or more bedroom units) [...] as well as approximately 2,024,050 square feet of commercial area, and 441,215 square feet of RALI space.

In the latter arrangement, the Environmental Impact Report says that the project would provide only about 30 percent of the housing needed to meet the demand generated by the commercial element.

The Maximum Residential plan, on the other hand, accounts for 94 percent of its own housing needs. The question of which plan the city will go with—and which Forest City really wants—remains up in the air.

If given final approval, the phased construction would take some 11 years to complete. The developer promised at the Thursday hearing that phase one would include more than 900 new home no matter what.

The Board of Supervisors will consider the Pier 70 proposal next.

https://sf.curbed.com/2017/8/25/1620...ission-approve

FivePoint gets green light to build 5,500 homes as part of Newhall Ranch project


Two villages, part of the overall $14 billion dollar Newhall Ranch project, will be built north of the Santa Clara River, south of Highway 126, and west of Interstate 5 Freeway near Magic Mountain. (File photo by David Crane/Los Angeles Daily News-SCNG) 1 COMMENT

By SUSAN ABRAM | sabram@scng.com | Daily News
PUBLISHED: July 19, 2017 at 12:45 pm | UPDATED: July 19, 2017 at 2:14 pm


After almost two decades of controversy, plans for two of five villages that make up the 21,500-unit Newhall Ranch development in the Santa Clarita Valley received approval Tuesday from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, clearing the way for the start of construction on what has been called the largest subdivision of its kind in the nation.

CEO of FivePoint Communities, Emile Haddad, leads a tour through new homes and answers questions during the unveiling of Pavilion Park.

The board’s 4-0 vote to certify plans for the Landmark and Mission villages means that barring any more legal wrangling, construction on 5,500 homes and apartments, as well as office space and elementary schools may start this fall, according to developers.

The NewHall community is being developed by Aliso Viejo-based FivePoint Communities.

FivePoint Chairman and CEO Emile Haddad, who dubbed the Newhall Ranch development “Net Zero Newhall,” said Tuesday the board’s vote removes a large hurdle from starting construction. He said the years of debates about the project as well as it winding through the courts has made it a better development, one that he said the community will be proud of.

“This was the last hurdle,” he said. “We are very close to the day when we can put the shovel into the ground.”

The two villages, part of the overall $13 billion dollar Newhall Ranch project, will be built north of the Santa Clara River, south of Highway 126, and west of Interstate 5 Freeway near Magic Mountain and are expected to:

• Contain more than 620 single-family lots
• Add 60,000 permanent jobs
• Generate more than $800 million a year in state and local taxes
• Include an elementary school, a fire station and a park-and-ride lot

Once completed, 10 percent of the 21,500 homes will be available as affordable housing, developers have said.

Supervisor Sheila Kuehl chose to abstain from voting on the plans, saying that while there were many good elements that came with the development, she could neither approve nor disapprove it. Construction would compromise air quality, she said, adding that the water contracts appeared to look good on paper, but remain questionable.

“I’m really concerned about siting this big project on open space and agricultural land,” Kuehl said. “That’s my major concern. We have limited open land and limited agricultural space and I have been pushing development on lands that are already compromised.”

For at least two decades, activists in the Santa Clarita Valley have tried to fight off the Newhall Ranch development. They’ve filed lawsuits claiming that the master planned community would threaten everything from native plants to endangered fish, pollute the air, destroy the Santa Clara River, encroach on traffic, and tap into the area’s fragile water sources. But while lawsuits and even the Great Recession succeeded in delaying the project, developers persisted and modified the plans along the way.

Those changes included adding electric car chargers in garages and two bridges that would go over the Santa Clara River to protect the endangered unarmored threespine stickleback, a native fish protected under state and federal law.

Developers with the Newhall Land and Farming Co., now called FivePoint Holdings, proposed modifications, including the car chargers and bridges. In addition, every home would have solar panels.

In June, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife approved those changes, clearing the way for the Landmark and Mission villages to move closer to being built. The agency had originally approved the projects in 2010, and the Board of Supervisors certified the plans in 2012. But in 2015, the California Supreme Court identified two issues in need of further review by the state wildlife agency: the greenhouse gas emissions produced by the developments and protection of the fish.

Lynne Plambeck, president of the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment, told the board that she and other groups were disappointed with the public hearing process on FivePoint’s latest changes. In addition, she said it was unclear if the water tables could support so many residents.

“There’s some serious water issues,” she told the board. “Our water tables would have dropped 80 feet.”

In addition, she and others said the elementary school would be built close to the Chiquita Canyon Landfill, which will operate for another 30 years. The Board of Supervisors approved its extension last month.

Darrell Park, who ran against now-Supervisor Kathryn Barger for the set in last fall’s election, called the development a scam.

“The pollution will still be there,” he said. “The traffic will still be there. It’s a joke. And it will be seen as a joke.”

FivePoint Chairman and CEO Emile Haddad, who dubbed the Newhall Ranch development “Net Zero Newhall,” said Tuesday the Board’s vote removes a large hurdle from starting construction. He said the years of debates about the project as well as it winding through the courts has made it a better developjment, one that he said the community will be proud of.
“This was the last hurdle,” he said. “We are very close to the day when we can put the shovel into the ground.”

http://www.ocregister.com/2017/07/19...-of-new-homes/

U.S. Needs 4.6 MILLION New Apartments by 2030

Central Texas home sales decline 4.3% in September


MyStatesman.com-Oct 17, 2017