Glad to have you with me here this Friday. How was your week? Did you meet all of your goals? I hope so.
There were two very important housing numbers released this week, and I'd like to take a look at each of these, along with some commentary on what these numbers mean for the Housing Market and the Economy.
The first set of numbers released were the New Residential Construction figures for April, which is broken down into Building Permits, Housing Starts, and Housing Completions. Overall, there were minor drops in each of these numbers from the previous month (March), but anywhere from 13% to 35% below the figures from April of 2010.
Additionally, the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) released their figures for Existing Home Sales, and these did not fare so well, either. Even though the market for Existing Homes made gains in 6 of the last 9 months, the numbers, which represent completed transactions that include single-family, town homes, condominiums and co-ops, dropped almost 1% from March, but almost 13% from April 2010. Some additional notes, per the NAR, show that "Total housing inventory at the end of April increased 9.9 percent", and the very interesting side-note which says that, "First-time buyers purchased 36 percent of homes in April, up from 33 percent in March; they were 49 percent in April 2010 when the tax credit was in place. Investors slipped to 20 percent in April from 22 percent of purchase activity in March; they were 15 percent in April 2010. The balance of sales was to repeat buyers, which were 44 percent in April."
Although these numbers point to some not-so-good conditions, not everything and everyone is negative on the Housing Market. Jane Frederick, an architect who specializes in custom residences, says that she believes that, "architects are the "canary in the mine" in that we see the slowdowns first and the increase in work first.", and says that they have signed 2 new contracts for new houses in the past three weeks and that their phone, "is ringing more now than it has in the past three years. "I believe that we are finally moving out of this recession", says Frederick.
"I recently read an article about the severe drop in housing starts and how that will eventually effect supply and prices.", says John Boyd of MeetingWave.com, who adds that, "I'm not suggesting now is the exact time to buy but seems to be getting close with low rates starting to creep up. Not sure when it will happen with the current joblessness, etc., but there are many folks renting houses, adult children living with parents, etc. that eventually we'll hit a solid floor and see an uptick."
What's your take on the market. Where do you think we are headed? How soon? Why?
Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !
Regards,
Rob Eisenstein
HomeRun Homes Blog http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Website http://www.lease2buy.com
TAGS: #residentialconstruction #realtors #existinghomes
