Home Starts Expected to Stay Level Through 2020

Metrostudy, a residential market research consulting company, reported this week that they did not see the drop off in home starts that they feared would happen due to COVID-19.

Based on preliminary data for the second quarter, Metrostudy is predicting 2020 annual home starts to equal 2019 or reflect only a slight year-over-year decrease.

Between January-March, there were a total of 8,403 home starts across the Greater Houston area, about a 21% increase compared to January-March of 2019, per Metrostudy data. And between April-June, there were 7,644 new home starts, which represents a 3% increase versus 2019 second-quarter data, Dean said.

Homebuilders experienced record sales in the month of May, he added. June sales also performed well.

Interest rates are low and unlikely to increase any time soon thanks to the economic conditions, which will continue to help aid home buying activity.