Housing activity grew across all indicators in March with single-family housing authorizations, maintenance, and remodeling volumes increasing for the eighth consecutive month. March marked one year since the novel coronavirus was declared a national pandemic, which has drastically affected housing activity. Although the market showed the first signs of slowing this time last year, strong growth over the past several months suggests the market is beyond recovering to its pre-pandemic growth rate.
New and Existing Housing Supply Activity, March 2021
- Single-family housing authorizations increased 13.52% year over year.
- Existing housing maintenance volume grew 29.93% year over year.
- Existing housing remodel volume increased 33.81% year over year.
“At this point, upward trends across new and existing housing activity reinforce that the U.S. housing market has recovered beyond its January 2020 pace. However, despite remarkable growth over the past several months, the market is still digging its way out of a historic housing supply shortage as concerns over housing affordability rise and home sales fall. The urgent pressure to rebuild the housing stock remains—will the widespread deployment of COVID-19 vaccinations finally help rebuild supply and shake up the market once again?”
-BuildFax Managing Director Jonathan Kanarek
Download the report to learn more about how the COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the housing market.