BuildFax, released its Housing Health Report for September, which offers insights into three major economic indicators for the U.S. housing market: single-family housing authorizations, existing housing maintenance and existing housing remodeling.
The data revealed a healthy increase in the annual rate of single-family housing authorizations from August to September. The annual rate of maintenance volume increased 5.06 percent in September year over year and increased 4.35 percent over Q3 2017.
A sharp spike in maintenance activity sees direct impact from 2017 hurricane season
New Housing Supply
- Single-family housing authorizations increased at a seasonally adjusted rate of 3.20 percent from August to September of 2018
- Single-family housing authorizations in September 2018 increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 10.91 percent over September 2017
Existing Housing Maintenance
- The annual rate of housing maintenance volume increased 5.06 percent
- In September 2018, housing maintenance spend increased at a year-over-year rate of 18.14 percent from September 2017
Existing Housing Remodels
- The annual rate of remodel volume has increased 2.39 percent
- In September 2018, remodel spend increased at a year-over-year rate of 15.96 percent from September 2017
“Typically, we see dips in maintenance and remodeling activity immediately following a natural disaster, as we saw in Florida following Hurricane Irma, which caused $10 billion in insured losses. Irma’s impact on Florida in September 2017 directly contributed to last month’s 5.06 percent increase in maintenance activity,” said BuildFax COO Jonathan Kanarek. “Hurricane Harvey is a different story. Harris County’s non-traditional permitting strategies spiked maintenance activity shortly after landfall. This will likely impact remodeling and maintenance activity well into 2019 and we’ll be tracking these trends in depth over time.”
About BuildFax
BuildFax, headquartered in Austin, Texas, is trusted by the largest insurance and financial institutions in the world to deliver business-critical property condition and history data. With the only database of its kind encompassing more than 23 billion data points on commercial and residential structures, BuildFax delivers detailed data on remodeling, solar installations, new construction, roof age, major systems, maintenance history and more. To learn more about BuildFax, visit www.buildfax.com.
