Posted on 03/18/2015 10:39:39 AM PDT by Lorianne
Groundbreakings on new homes dropped by a sharp 17% in February, the U.S. Commerce Department said Tuesday.
February’s housing starts fell to a seasonally adjusted, annual rate of 897,000, well below January’s estimate of 1.081 million, though only 3.3% below the pace in February 2014. The numbers missed–by a long shot–the 1.048 million starts economists surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast ahead of the release.
Perhaps it’s not surprising, then, that builder confidence in the market for newly constructed, single-family homes dropped by two points in March to a level of 53, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo WFC -0.54% Housing Market Index, released Monday. A reading of 50 or higher means that more builders rate conditions are good than poor, and the measure has now hit that mark for nine consecutive months.
“The drop in builder confidence is largely attributable to supply chain issues, such as lot and labor shortages as well as tight underwriting standards,” said David Crowe, NAHB’s chief economist. “These obstacles notwithstanding, we are expecting solid gains in the housing market this year, buoyed by sustained job growth, low mortgage interest rates and pent-up demand.”
Underscoring Crowe’s optimism, the number of building permits issued in February was actually up 3% from January to a (seasonally adjusted, annual) rate of 1.092 million, thanks to a strong surge in permitting for multi-family units. While single-family permits stood at 620,000 in February (6.2% below January), buildings with five units or more hit a permit rate of 445,000 in February (19.9% above January’s numbers). Overall, February’s permitting level was 7.7% above the pace one year earlier.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
I have an acquaintance in Seattle that bought a home just before the bottom fell out. She made three or four payments and stopped. She still lives there.
A lot of folks are still doing that. Rent free living while the bank tries to find their paperwork required to foreclose.
This particular house is not spectacular, but it’s not bad, and it’s in a nice neighborhood in the city limits.
I rented the last ten years I lived in Seattle. The savings was HUGE. The low rates and predatory lending were draining the apartments.
I heard a story from a real estate friend that one guy was turned down to rent in an apartment complex because his credit score was so bad. He bought a house instead. :-D
And home prices don’t impact the CPI. Rental does. So if rents catch up with home values, as they normally do, all these people going from ownership back to renting will impact the CPI.
Yes, that 3.3% can be attributed to bad weather. Most of my customers were actually busy in December and January. Everything came to a standstill in February. March Lumber futures bottomed yesterday @ $265/mbf on the CME.
We are technically overproduced right now.
LOL, there you go making sense again.
Pathetic isn’t it.
“Best economy eva...”
I work for a national homebuilder. We are cranking in Florida.
Feb 2015 was down 3.3% from a year prior - Feb 2014
Feb 2015 was down 17% from the month prior - Jan 2015
Oops sorry Cuban Leaf.
I see your point that it is the year over year that really matters.
What year did they stop paying?
I wanna say 2008, but I can’t be sure. This person used to be in the finance industry so they are pretty aware of the legal situation regarding banks and these mortgages. She’s been “negotiating” with the bank off and on since then but I think she’s really stalling until she does, in fact, just walk away.
“Housing?” Apartments, rent-seeking parasites,...
Rent-seeking
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking
Maybe in Minnesota, but here in Louisville ... For 20% of the days in February, the backhoe drivers wouldn’t be able to get TO the worksite to break the ground. It was brutal here...and we aren’t equipped for it.
I am, surprised the County hasn’t Sheriff Sold the house for not paying the property taxes.
Concrete is poured several weeks after a house is started. Excavation and Foundation digging constitutes a housing start.
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