Last week's economic news included several housing-related reports including the Housing Market Index (HMI) for March, a report on housing starts, and building permits for February. The National Association of REALTORS® also released its Existing Home Sales report for February and the Federal Reserve issued its first FOMC statement under the helm of Fed Chair Janet Yellen. Home Builders Conservative On Housing Market Conditions The National Association of Home Builders Wells Fargo Housing Market Index rose by one point to a reading of 47 in March against a reading of 46 in February and … [Read more...]
Housing Starts, Building Permits Rising Into 2013
Single-family housing starts took a small step back in November. According to the monthly Housing Starts report from the U.S. Department of Commerce, single-family housing starts tallied 565,000 in November 2012 on a seasonally-adjusted, annualized basis. This marks a 4 percent decline from October, but is more than 100,000 higher than the count from 12 months ago. Clearly, the nation's new home construction market is expanding. On a regional basis, single-family housing starts have been strongest in the Midwest; and Hurricane Sandy appears to have affected the number of starts across the … [Read more...]
Housing Starts Move To 2-Year High
The new construction housing market continues to make gains. Wednesday, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Housing Starts for single-family homes up 5.5 percent in August to a seasonally-adjusted, annualized count of 535,000 units nationwide. The report marks the fifth month of six that single-family starts increased, and marks the highest starts tally since April 2010 -- the last month of that year's federal homebuyer tax credit program. A "housing start" is a new home on which construction has started and the steady growth in single-family starts suggests a stronger Arizona housing market … [Read more...]
