Industry Trends – IWF, By Warren Shoulberg
It may not be back to the good times during low interest rates but Telsey Advisory Group’s Housing Scorecard shows more positives than negatives.
If you’re looking for good news about the housing market – especially when there doesn’t seem to be too much as the most recent data suggests the sector remains weak and mortgage rates are even going back up a bit – a new analysis from prestigious Wall Street firm Telsey Advisory Group is going to bring a smile to your face…and to your business bottom line too.
In its regular “TAG Housing Scorecard” which ranks a number of factors influencing the industry, Telsey sees five positives, three even scores, and just two negatives. “Our latest Housing Scorecard reflects a housing market that has bottomed out and is improving,” it wrote in its latest report. “The latest data have resulted in our total index rising to 65 from 35 in October 2023, August 2023, February 2023, and December 2022, 50 in July 2022, and 55 in February 2022.”
That’s still down from its index of 80 in April 2021, but “better than 2022 and 2023.” Still, it said the market is “not back to strength.”
Positives on its scorecards were: private fixed residential investments, the value of construction put into place, the S&P/Schiller Home Price Index, new construction starts and permits and housing formations. On the negative side were 30-year fixed mortgage rates and existing house sales. It judged remodeling rates, employment and consumer confidence as “mixed.”
It continued to see those retailers and other businesses that service the housing market as long-term solid prospects even if right now they remain challenged.