Craig Greene: Interpreting Housing Economic Indicators

Here's background information on how key indicators track the condition of the market

By Craig Greene | Published on 02.24.2010

E-mail
Print

Analysts, policymakers and investors closely follow economic indicators that track the condition of the housing market. Here’s some background information on these important indicators.

Housing Starts

Housing starts is considered the most important report on the housing sector because of its large ripple effect in the economy when buyers purchase appliances and household furnishings.

Construction of single-family homes accounts for about 85 percent of the industry. Work on multifamily units makes up the rest of the market and is considered highly volatile.

Home Sales

New homes sales account for less than 10 percent of the market. They are tabulated when the contract is signed.

This is different from the way existing home sales are tallied. They’re counted when the transaction closes and thus reflect contracts signed a month or two earlier. Existing home sales account for more than 80 percent of the market.

Another important home sales figure is the pending home sales index. This is a leading indicator of existing home sales, not new home sales. A pending sale is one in which a contract was signed, but not yet closed. Because it usually takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale, it’s considered a leading indicator.

Housing Price Indices

There are two housing price indices: the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index and the Federal Housing Finance Agency index.

The FHFA index is a national measure that tracks houses bought with mortgages purchased by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac and excludes many of the foreclosure sales and properties bought with nonconventional mortgages. Homes with these loans did not experience the sharp rise and subsequent decline in prices throughout the past decade and represent a more stable pricing index.

In contrast, the S&P/Case-Shiller report is focused on large metropolitan areas and includes distressed properties and those bought with nonconventional loans such as jumbo mortgages. These home prices tend to be much more volatile.

— Craig Greene is a senior loan officer at Prospect Mortgage, 3916 State St., Suite 100, Santa Barbara 93105. He can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 805.898.4211.

Comments

Noozhawk's comments are moderated, but by posting here you accept your responsibility to follow our rules as part of Noozhawk's shared online community. Please keep your comments civil and helpful. Don't attack other readers personally, and do not use vulgar, abusive or discriminatory language. Use the "Report Abuse" link if a comment violates these standards or our Terms of Use.

» S.B county will drop 40% on 02.25.10 @ 10:42 AM

The real estate should drop another 40% in Santa Barbara—hang on—

You don't have permission to flag this entry.

Green Hawk

Santa Barbara County Announces New Way to Recycle Plastic Bags

Goleta Workshop Gives Homeowners Access to Low-Cost Energy Upgrades

Coal Oil Point Reserve Unleashes Goats on Invasive Grass Species

Briefs

Letter to the Editor: Will 2011 Bring Change?

Caltrans Highway Information for Central Coast

Fire Causes Extensive Damage to Apartment Complex

Craig Greene: Interpreting Housing Economic Indicators

Log in