ATLANTA — The U.S. is in a recession that will temper homebuilding throughout the next year, one of the nation’s top economists said.
The National Association of Home Builders expects a 14% year-over-year decline in U.S. home starts for 2022, the first such decline in homebuilding since 2011. In the third quarter, Dallas-Fort Worth saw the largest year-over-year decline in home construction starts in almost a decade, according to Dallas-based housing analyst Residential Strategies.
“What I think is beyond denial right now, beyond debate, is the fact that the housing sector itself is in recession,” Robert Dietz, chief economist of the National Association of Home Builders, said in a presentation Tuesday at the annual National Association of Real Estate Editors conference in Atlanta. He said declines in single-family builder sentiment, single-family starts, permits and sales are all indicators of that.
