Housing activity remains strong in November, experiencing blanket growth across key indicators for the second time this year. Nine months into the pandemic, we’re seeing some clear trends emerging related to homeowner behavior. “Maintenance spend surged in November to the largest year-over-year increase we’ve ever seen,” said Jonathan Kanarek, managing director of BuildFax, a Verisk …
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Housing activity showed continued growth across almost all indicators in October. Single-family housing authorizations increased for the third consecutive month, though the pace of growth slowed from September. While record-low mortgage rates have propelled housing activity forward amid the COVID-19 pandemic, homebuyer demand may have peaked as mortgage applications remained relatively flat in October. Meanwhile, …
Read MoreThe market experienced steady year-over-year growth across almost all housing indicators in September. Single-family housing authorizations were up for the second consecutive month, signaling strong demand and homebuilder confidence in the market. New construction grew alongside construction employment in the U.S. last month. However, construction employment remains well below levels seen in the months preceding …
Read MoreHousing activity experienced notable growth in August, seemingly spurred along by historically low mortgage rates and increases in consumer demand driven by post-pandemic shifts in homebuying behaviors. In the new construction sphere, single-family housing authorizations increased, a sign that housing activity is advancing in the face of the pandemic. As builders work to close the …
Read MoreEven five months into the pandemic, many industries are still experiencing the effects of COVID-19. However, U.S. housing activity has notably pushed past the early turmoil it experienced. After several months of hesitation, housing indicators are beginning to show growth once again. Maintenance and remodeling activity—a subset of maintenance that includes renovations, additions, and alterations—increased …
Read MoreNew and existing housing activity declined across the board in May. However, a trend is beginning to appear within the housing market, where other housing indicators—existing home sales, construction jobs, mortgage locks, homebuilder sentiment, and more—started seeing improvement this month. Maintenance and remodeling—a subset of maintenance that includes renovations, additions, and alterations—declined year over year …
Read MoreFor nearly a decade, BuildFax has been the leading source of property history and condition insights for some of the largest insurance companies in the country. Leveraging the nation’s largest database of building permits, construction data, and other publicly sourced information, BuildFax delivers detailed intelligence on roof, condition, maintenance history, and remodeling for more than …
Read MoreHurricane season is right around the corner, and five to nine Atlantic hurricanes are in the forecast. There’s a great article from Facility Executive that we ran across recently, which outlines a few ways to reduce personal property losses and storm-related injuries. Business Interruption Exposure The first thing they bring up is reducing exposures …
Read MoreWe recently compared commercial new construction and commercial remodeling over the course of the Great Recession. Based on the findings of our residential study, we suspected there might also be a similar trend in commercial construction. The results from this new study illuminate some interesting findings, especially as they relate to commercial lines. Additions, remodels, and alterations …
Read MoreRecently on a hunch, we compared residential new construction and residential remodeling construction numbers over the lifecycle of the recent housing crisis. We suspected a lingering inequality trend between the two, and we found some pretty staggering results. For our study, we looked at just over thirty-seven million residential properties. The hunch proved …
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