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Letter from the DOI Details Effective Date of the 2024 Building Codes
Multifamily Developer Confidence Improves in Q2
Confidence in the market for new multifamily housing increased year-over-year in the second quarter, according to the Multifamily Market Survey (MMS) released recently by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The MMS produces two separate indices. The Multifamily Production Index (MPI) had a reading of 46, up two points year-over-year, while the Multifamily Occupancy Index (MOI) had a reading of 82, up one point year-over-year. The index and all its components are scaled so that a number below 50 indicates that more respondents report conditions are poor than report conditions are good.
The MPI measures builder and developer sentiment about current production conditions. The MOI measures the multifamily housing industry’s perception of occupancies.
July Housing Starts Edge Higher Despite Challenges
Single-family housing starts posted a modest gain in July as builders continue to contend with challenging housing affordability conditions and a host of supply-side headwinds, including labor shortages, elevated construction costs and inefficient regulatory costs. Led by solid multifamily production, overall housing starts increased 5.2% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.43 million units, according to a report from HUD and the U.S. Census Bureau. The July reading of 1.43 million starts is the number of housing units builders would begin if development kept this pace for the next 12 months. Within this overall number, single-family starts increased 2.8% to a 939,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate and are down 4.2% on a year-to-date basis.
The multifamily sector, which includes apartment buildings and condos, increased 9.9% to an annualized 489,000 pace. On a regional and year-to-date basis, combined single-family and multifamily starts were 10.2% higher in the Northeast, 17.7% higher in the Midwest, 2.4% lower in the South and 0.5% lower in the West. Overall permits decreased 2.8% to a 1.35-million-unit annualized rate in July. Single-family permits increased 0.5% to an 870,000-unit rate and are down 5.8% on a year-to-date basis. Multifamily permits decreased 8.2% to a 484,000 pace. Looking at regional permit data on a year-to-date basis, permits were 16.6% lower in the Northeast, 9.1% higher in the Midwest, 3.4% lower in the South and 5.1% lower in the West.