Posted on 09/20/2011 6:22:13 AM PDT by Free Vulcan
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Builders started construction on fewer new homes in August, government data showed Tuesday, underscoring how the depressed U.S. real estate market shows little sign of recovering.
Housing starts fell 5% to an annual rate of 571,000 last month, compared with a downwardly revised 601,000 in July, the Commerce Department said. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected housing starts to fall to 590,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
http://confoundedinterest.wordpress.com
This guy ties it all together. And he has been saying this for several years.
Housing ain’t coming back, even if the economy improves. Just too much inventory and too many underwater properties.
BTW, I am betting on a recovery after GOP wins in 2012.
Why build new when there’s so many deals on existing homes?
There are hundreds of thousands of vacant houses that nobody wants. When supply exceeds demand by this much, prices fall.
And they are destined to fall for years. The housing "market", meaning the gigantic fraud perpetrated by the government and the real estate industry, is NEVER coming back.
And the number of deluded people is still incredible.
Just down the road from me there is a cottage on a 0.4 acre lot. Now, the good news is that this cottage has 150 feet of lakefront on a beautiful and, some would say, desirable lake.
The bad news is that it has 2BR, electric heat, no running water, and a septic arrangement that is now illegal and unable to be transferred to a buyer. The building is literally falling apart in places, and is likely structurally unsound. The lot is all within the NH "waterfront buffer" and "Natural woodland buffer" zones, and is hence unbuildable. It would be impossible to get a septic system permit for a new system.
And yet, the owner, with the enthusiastic cooperation of real estate professionals, has listed this place for $479,000.
There's a long, long way yet to fall.
I am surprised if there are any new housing starts other than to replace those destroyed by tornadoes, floods and hurricanes. We have a major oversupply of housing and nobody is lending.
“And yet, the owner, with the enthusiastic cooperation of real estate professionals, has listed this place for $479,000.”
hahahaha, I am water front on Galveston Bay, 3br, 2 bath, MUD water and sewer, plus a small guest house, a working water well for the garden and a 2 car garage. I would be lucky to get 250k.
Said it 100 times....untill this improves neither will the economy.
bump.
We are in a housing Depression. Not a recession, not a weak recovery—a depression. And housing isn’t coming back for years. And none of those housing construction jobs are coming back for years. If this was a Republican president, the Housing Depression would be front page news. But God Forbid anyone write about the housing depression if it would hurt Obama’s re-election chances.
Dont forget starts are affected by weather, i.e. east cost Hurricane and Texas fires.
Permits were slightly (very slight at that) up.
Dont forget starts are affected by weather, i.e. east cost Hurricane and Texas fires.
Permits were slightly (very slight at that) up.
Every business (and everybody) involved in the housing and home construction business are in a long term depression with no end in sight.
No amount of government "stimulus" money is going to put them back to work unless we copy China's model and simply build entire cities on spec. Of course, China is doing that with their surplus cash we've sent to them.
The only cash our gubmint has is what they roll off the printing presses and they are busy using that to keep the EBT cards filled so Holder's People don't burn down the cities.
There is no way out of this with the current crop of thieves in power in Washington.
I agree and the ‘economists’ haven’t even begun to deal with the implications. A good majority of the housing stock will never be occupied. Some of these houses have vacant going on 5 years and are falling to pieces from neglect.
They will remain vacant until the house is condemned and torn down, forcing the banks to finally deal with them on their books. Then your going to see the Great American banking liquidity squeeze.
The housing depression is going to bite us on the butt for the next 10 if not 20 years and we’ll be lucky if it doesn’t bring the whole thing down.
Good grief, what is the actual value, zero or below?
The house is worth less than zero (because it will have to be repaired or torn down).
Since the lot is unbuildable by regulation, I can’t imagine it’s worth much.
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