Hope In Housing Numbers

March 19, 2007  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in on March 2007 The news isn’t all bad on the housing front, according to new figures released by the Commerce Department today that showed housing starts climbing 9 percent above the figure for January—despite bad weather in many areas of the country. Still, the Commerce Department announcement pointed out that the 1.53 million home construction projects started in February fell 28.5 percent below the level in February 2006. According to published reports, last month’s housing starts were slightly above expectations.

Also, the number of building permits issued in February was 2.5 percent below January’s levels and 28.6 percent under those in February 2006. Building permits are regarded as a better indicator of the confidence levels of home developers since the permitting process is not tied to local weather conditions as closely as construction.

Home starts were strongest in the West, with an increase 26 percent. Combined with a 18 percent increase in the South, the building activity in the West and South helped offset sharp declines of 30 percent in the Northeast and 14 percent in the Midwest.

Completions of new homes fell 9.4 percent. That could be an indicator that developers are slowing work on projects to reduce inventories in response to slower sales.