U.S Housing: The Market Is Not a Monolith

This podcast episode analyzes contrasting housing data, emphasizing the disparity between rising new home sales and declining existing home sales in the US. It explores the complexities of the housing market and cautions against interpreting isolated statistics as a broader market trend. While new home sales surged in a surprising 12.2% growth, other indicators, such as purchase applications and existing home sales, indicate overall weakness in the market. The podcast delves into the implications of this data, discussing factors like affordability concerns, lack of inventory, and the impact on home builder confidence. Despite growing builder confidence, the podcast warns that single-unit starts are still down, while multi-unit starts drive growth in housing starts. Despite recent negative home price growth, the outlook for 2023 appears less negative than initially projected, with a recovery to flat by year-end.