08 Nov Homebuilding: 2020 Year in Review and Outlook from Millonacres

Written by Marc Rapport, Millionacres

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In January, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) predicted that new home sales would reach 708,000, up 2.5% in 2020 from 2019, the first year sales would surpass 700,000 since 2007.

Single-family housing starts, meanwhile, were predicted to increase more than 3% from 2019 to about 920,000 units, still “significantly less than the 1 million to 1.1 million units that demographics would support,” the big trade group said in that report.

Now add a staggering pandemic and fast-forward 10 months. Despite temporary shutdowns in some areas and historically high surges in unemployment, the combination of historically low interest rates and soaring demand saw single-family housing starts in September hit a rate of 1.1 million, according to figures released Oct. 20 by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Census Bureau.