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Second Quarter 2012 Housing Market Conditions

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September 19, 2012  

Second Quarter 2012 Housing Market Conditions

HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research has released the U.S. Housing Market Conditions Report for the second quarter of 2012. The report provides updated information for the country on housing construction, marketing, affordability, homeownership, foreclosures, and multifamily housing performance. It contains statistics for the second quarter of 2012 with comparisons to the previous quarter, as well as the second quarter of 2011. Profiles of regional activity, selected housing markets, and updates of historical trends in national and regional markets are presented. The title of this issue’s feature article is “New Oil and Gas Drilling Technologies Bring Significant Changes and Challenges to Housing Markets.”

Keypoints

  • Single-family building permits were up 4% from the previous quarter and 19% from a year earlier. Multifamily permits increased by 7% from the first quarter and 37% from one year earlier.
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  • Single-family construction starts were up 7% from the first quarter and up 23% from a year earlier. Multifamily starts were 3% lower than the previous quarter, but up 48% from the previous year.
  • New single-family home sales rose 3% from the first quarter of 2012 and were 17% higher than one year ago. Existing home sales were down 1.0% from the previous quarter, but up 9% from 12 months ago.
  • The median sales price for new homes was $235,300, which was down 1.0% from the first quarter and up 3% from a year ago. The median sales price for existing homes of $181,100 was up by 14% from the first quarter and 7% higher than 12 months earlier.
  • The national homeownership rate of 65.5% rose from 65.4% in the first quarter, but was lower than the 65.9% of a year earlier. Minority homeownership, at 47.9%, rose from 47.5% in the previous quarter and 47.8% a year earlier.
  • Residential investment increased by 9.7% and contributed 0.22% to GDP growth; the previous quarter saw a 20.5% increase with a 0.43% contribution to GDP growth.

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