Housing starts highest since May, but still in multi-year slump
Today’s New Residential Construction Report showed a slight gain to both single family permits and single family starts suggesting that housing is continuing to remain weak in the wake of the expiration of the government's housing tax credit gimmick.
Single family housing permits, the most leading of indicators, increased just 0.5% on a month-to-month basis to 405K single family units (SAAR) and declined a notable 14.4% below the level seen in September 2009 and an astonishing 77.47% below the peak in September 2005.
Single family housing starts ticked up climbing 4.4% to 452K (SAAR) units but remaining 10.8% below the level seen in September 2009 and a whopping 75.21% below the peak set in early 2006.
With the substantial headwinds of rising unemployment, epic levels of foreclosure and delinquency, mounting bankruptcies, contracting consumer credit, and falling real wages, an overhang of inventory and still falling home prices, the environment for “organic” home sales remains weak and likely very fragile.
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