An overview of the 2010 Housing Market

Dennis Norman St LouisHUD just released it’s “2010 Overview of U.S. Housing Market Conditions which gave a recap of the housing market for 2010. I’ve previously reported on most of the data and information that HUD included in the report however I thought this report did a good job of giving a complete and concise look at the market for the year so I wanted to share it.

Highlights from the report:

  • Builders took out permits for 447,100 new single-family and 131,000 multifamily homes in 2010, an increase of 3% and 11% respectively from 2009.
  • Housing starts totaled 471,000 single-family units and 105,000 multifamily units in 2010, up 6% and 8% respectively from the previous year.
  • Construction was completed on 497,000 new single-family housing units and 148,000 new multifamily units, down 4% and 43% respectively from 2009.
  • The number of new single-family homes sold in 2010 fell by 14% from 2009. The median price of new homes sold in 2010 was $221,900, up 2.4% from the prior year.
  • NAR reported that 4.908 million existing single-family homes sold in 2010, a 5% decrease from 2009. The median price of existing homes sold in 2010 was $173,000, nearly the same as in 2009.
  • Builders were just slightly more optimistic in 2010. The NAHB/Wells Fargo composite Housing Market Index averaged 16 points, up 1 point from 2009. The 2009 value was the lowest annual value in the 25-year history of this attitude survey.
  • The average interest rate for 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages in 2010, as reported by Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, was 4.69% — 35 basis points below the 2009 annual average rate, which set a record low.
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