These two charts provide indicators of the region’s housing market. Building permit data provide an indication of the number of new homes being built by estimating the number of permits issued to build privately owned buildings. This number, however, does not equal the number of new homes because some permits are issued months or years before a home is actually built. Building permits are generally considered a leading economic indicator, because they tend to move prior to an economic expansion or contraction and foreshadow demand for durable goods. Permits and the FHFA House Price Index (HPI) tend to move together, rising and falling with the demand for housing.

Towards the end of the 1980s, HPI growth rates in New England began to falter and fell sharply through the early 1990s, with house prices actually declining in the first half of the decade. Meanwhile, while growth in national home prices weakened in the 1990-1991 recession, it remained positive. After 1995, New England home prices began to rebound, and by the late 1990s, their growth rate was once again outpacing the national rate. In 2005, however, New England home price growth weakened and slumped below the national average. New England's HPI growth rates began to track national rates very closely by the start of the Great Recession. House prices fell dramatically during the Great Recession. New England had not experienced a decline in its house price index in over a decade while the nation had not experienced a decline in over twenty years.

Housing permits in New England followed similar patterns. The late 1980s saw a sharp drop off in housing permits prior to the start of the 1990-1991 recession. Since then, New England's housing permit growth has tracked the national rate very closely, but has experienced considerably greater volatility. This was especially true during and after the 2008-2009 recession.

Detailed data for the United States and New England are available in our Indicators database.