Every two weeks, Oldcastle Building Solutions Business Intelligence prepares a report focused on understanding and analyzing construction market data and trends.
This in-depth report is developed primarily for internal distribution, but Oldcastle Building Solutions exists to inform construction professionals like you, so we're making this report available for anyone who's interested in reading it.
What's New In This Report?
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HighlightsBuilders’ confidence increased to 70 in May 2017, up 2 points from April April 2017 ABI dropped back to near neutral (50) with a score of 50.9 |
Construction UpdateApril 2017 Housing Permits up 5.7% since last year; Starts up 0.7% in year New Single Family sales: 569K houses, 0.5% above the April 2016 estimate |
Economic Update39 of 51 states showed year-over-year gains in construction employment April 2017 CPI-U (Inflation) increased 0.2%, following 0.3% drop in March |
Key Takeaways
- The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) in May 2017 rose 2 points to 70, following April 2017's score of 68
- The Architectural Billings Index (ABI), a 9-12 month leading indicator for commercial construction in April 2017 dropped back to near neutral territory with a score of 50.9
- Housing permits made gains in April 2017 to 1.2M, 5.7% above April 2016's rate; Single Family permits made gains over the year up 6.2%, as did Multi-Family permits which had 4.8% year-over-year growth
- Housing starts increased in April 2017 by 0.7% from last year to 1.2M: Single Family starts were up 8.9%; while Multi-Family starts were down 15.1% from last year
- 569K new Single Family homes were sold in April 2017, 0.5% above the April 2016 rate. Sales in the month were 11.4% below March 2017 rate, with marked softness in the West region where sales prices are trending high and affordable new construction inventory is low
- 39 of 51 states showed year-over-year construction employment gains in April 2017; with the strongest gains in Nevada and the deepest contractions in Mississippi
- CPI-U, which indicates inflation, rose 0.2% in April 2017, following a 0.3% decrease in March 2017
