Last week Dr. Robert Dietz, Chief Economist of the National Association of Home Builders, provided a forecast to remodelers across the country. He stated that the economy has been outperforming his earlier rosy forecasts that housing would lead the economy in the coming months.
“Consistent with the National Association of Home Builders forecast, home building data are showing signs of leading and emerging economic rebound. In fact, high-frequency data suggest gains for most sectors of the economy, even as confirmed virus casts rise in many states.”
Dr. Dietz also said, “I have been chasing up my forecasts.”
We also read the statement in our headline in a Haro Setian’s newsletter. This is what he had to say about our local housing market:
“The number of homes for sale dropped by almost 20% annually this April. This is the lowest April housing inventory of all time.
Inventory was already low before the coronavirus hit. Now, many sellers are either hesitant because of the pandemic, or they simply don’t realize how strong demand currently is.”
Haro’s email went on to say that now is a great time to sell. But it’s also may be a great time to build. The latest quarterly building permit data, for the first quarter of 2020, was recently released by our friends at MarketEdge. This is what they reported*:
- Upstate: (10.1%)
- Greenville County: (9%)
- Spartanburg County: (17%)
- Anderson County: (1%)
- Laurens County: 52%
- Pickens County: (20%)
Anecdotally, our friends in the Greenville County permit office told us they saw a slow down from late March until early April, then a return to normal permit levels.
Could now be a great time to build? Check out this article and this article for a little more context on the economy.
* First quarter 2020 vs. first quarter 2019.