Instant Reaction: April Jobs Report

The following is NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun’s reaction to this morning’s U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report on the employment situation in April:

“Another month of job additions implies more households  are in a position to buy a home. However, recent existing-home sales activity, at around 5.5 million per year, is well below its potential. That’s because similar home sales were occurring during the 2001 and 2002 period, when the housing market was considered fairly normal and somewhat boring, and well before the subprime-led bubble.

“Today there are more than 16 million more jobs compared to back in 2002, yet home sales are running essentially even, meaning there is plenty of pent-up housing demand. What is needed is new supply and new home construction. The number of construction workers is rising, but is insufficient, even though the average wage rate of a non-supervisory construction worker, at $27, is much higher than the average wage of all workers, at $22 per hour.”