Housing starts in 2015 are projected at 993,000 units, an increase of 6.7 percent from 2014’s total of 930,000 units, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
While single-family production is expected to rise 26 percent in 2015 to 804,000 units, the market is still below a normal level of 1.3 to 1.4 million single-family starts, said David Crowe, chief economist at the NAHB, in a statement.
The country’s single-family starts should be 10 percent within normal by 2016. The top 40 percent of states will be back to near-normal production levels by then as well, compared to the bottom 20 percent, which will still be below 75 percent of normal, NAHB says.
The NAHB expects 358,000 multifamily starts in 2015, up 2 percent from 352,000 last year.
New single-family home sales should reach 564,000 units in 2015, a 29.3 percent increase above last year’s 436,000 in sales.
"The signs point to a more robust year for housing," Crowe said. "Household balance sheets are returning to normal levels, homeowners' equity is increasing and significant pent-up demand is rising. More than 7 million existing home sales were postponed or lost during the downturn; and while some are lost forever, we should see some catch-up."
