Commercial & Residential Property Blog

Nationwide housing production hit its strongest pace in the last six months this January, posting a 2.8 percent gain to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 591,000 units, according to figures released today by the U.S. Commerce Department.

October housing starts fell 10.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted 529,000 annual rates compared to September, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

The decline brought construction back to the lowest point in six months.

Nationwide housing production fell 10.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 529,000 units in October as builders awaited word on whether an important home buyer incentive would be extended, according to data released today by the U.S. Commerce Department.

Adding to evidence the recession has ended, housing construction rose in August and fewer laid-off workers sought jobless aid last week.

Still, the reports suggested a slow and fragile economic recovery. The rise in housing starts was due solely to a jump in the volatile apartment-building category, and unemployment claims remain far above levels associated with a healthy economy.

ew U.S. housing starts and permits rose in August to their highest level since November, lifted by a rebound in multifamily homes, a government report showed on Thursday.

The Commerce Department said housing starts rose 1.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 598,000 units, just shy of market expectations for 600,000 units. July’s housing starts were revised upwards to 589,000 units from the previously reported 581,000 units.

Housing starts rose 1.5 percent in August to an annualized rate of 598,000, led by a 25 percent increase in apartment construction, the U.S. Commerce Department announced Thursday.

Single-family starts fell 3 percent to a 479,000 annual rate, the first decline since January. Single-family starts rose 24 percent in the Northeast, 0.9 percent in the Midwest, and fell 2.4 percent in the South. The West was unchanged.

Builders’confidence improved in May for the third month in a row, reaching 16 points, up from 14 in April and nine in March.

The housing market is looking healthier, but U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said Wednesday that it is too early to tell if the recovery has taken hold. “We do have some early signs, I think, that the market is stabilizing.

The bottom of the housing decline is near, predicted analysts and home builders attending the National Association of Home Builders’ semiannual Construction Forecast Conference last week.

Have New-Home Sales Found the Floor? It looks like sales of new homes have finally bottomed out.