Quikrete Industry Dashboard, Dec. 29

With three prominent downward trending metrics—total starts, single-family starts and existing home sales—and a stock roundup grid that's crowded with negative numbers, the latest version of the Quikrete Industry Dashboard added a glimmer of growth in the final week of 2022.

The Consumer Confidence Index for December showed a significant gain — from 101.4 in November to 108.3 in December.

Elsewhere on the Dashboard and weighed down by rising mortgage rates, existing home sales declined for the tenth consecutive month, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. 

Meanwhile, housing starts in November slipped 0.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.427 million compared to the revised October estimate of 1.434 million, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported.

The latest reading is 16.4% below the November 2021 rate of 1.706 million.

Single-family starts in November were at a rate of 828,000, falling 4.1% below the revised October figure of 863,000. On a year-over-year basis, single-family starts plummeted 32.1% compared to the November 2021 rate of 1.22 million.

The numbers showed growth in multi-family construction. The November rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 584,000, rising 4.8% from the prior month and soaring 24.5% above the same period a year ago.

From Wall Street, six of the 10 ticker symbols tracked by the Stock Roundup are up for the year, but only DE is up for the year and the month, based on Dec. 21 closing prices.