Feb. New housing starts down 22.5% from Jan. and 20.8% from a year ago. Includes multi-family and SFR. New building permits down 20.5% from a year ago.
New SFR sales down 16.9% in Feb. to the lowest level in over 50 years since the data has been gathered. The median price of new homes sold down 8.9% from a year ago.
Foreclosures are increasing in many regions. Banks have a huge inventory of foreclosed homes that have not been placed on the market. Many of the foreclosures are relatively new homes which should continue to depress new and resale homes for at least another 2-3 years (in my opinion).
The real estate industry is a big piece of the U.S. economic pie. I don’t believe much of a “recovery” is possible without a strong real estate market.
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