Everybody expected housing to really sort of dry up with the rest of the economy, said National Association of Home Builders CEO Jerry Howard. And in fact, the opposite has happened. People who have been sort of scared out of the cities by the pandemic.
With homeowners unwilling to sell, a record low supply of homes for sale has forced buyers into intense bidding wars. At the end of April, there were only 1.16 million houses for sale in the U.S. down 20.5% from the year before.
Higher costs for land, labor and building materials including lumber have also impacted homebuilders.
Provided by Dow Jones
By Will Horner and Julia Carpenter U.S. stocks wobbled Tuesday, giving up early gains, while bitcoin prices edged lower after a period of volatile trading. The S&P 500 slipped 0.2%, while the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 30 points, or 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.1%. All three indexes had opened modestly higher before losing steam. Stocks had jumped to start the week, with recent comments from Federal Reserve officials helping to ease concerns that rising inflation could stamp out growth or prompt the central bank to suddenly tighten policy. The comments we have had from Fed speakers have told the market exactly what it wants to hear: that they are not concerned about the inflation data and that it hasn t changed their plan to be very cautious, said Hugh Gimber, a strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
Consumer Cos Climb After Home-Sales Data Consumer Roundup
05/25/2021 | 05:11pm EDT
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Required fields Shares of retailers and other consumer companies rose slightly as strong housing data offset inflation concerns. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, which measures average home prices in major metropolitan areas across the nation, rose 13.2% in the year that ended in March, up from a 12% annual rate the prior month, and the sharpest rate of price growth since December 2005. New-home sales fell sharply in April, reflecting limited inventory, but remained far above the level a year earlier. Home building is set to slow further due to the rising cost of lumber.
ASIA:
Cryptocurrency miners, including HashCow and BTC.TOP, have halted all or part of their China operations after Beijing intensified a crackdown on bitcoin mining and trading, hammering digital currencies amid heightened global regulatory scrutiny. Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi on Monday suspended both crypto-mining and some trading services to new clients from mainland China, adding it will instead focus on overseas businesses. A State Council committee led by Vice Premier Liu He announced the crackdown late on Friday as part of efforts to fend off financial risks. It was the first time China’s cabinet has targeted virtual currency mining, a sizable business in the world’s second-biggest economy that some estimates say accounts for as much as 70% of the global crypto supply. The crackdown is also part of China’s stepped-up drive to curb speculative crypto trading.