Are Housing Starts Really Encouraging?
The Commerce Department released figures showing that new housing starts increased by 1.5% from July to August. The seasonally adjusted rate is now at 598,000. New building permits rose sharply by 2.7%. Year-over-year permits applications were 37.3% ahead of last year. On the surface, that looks like good news. However, single family home construction actually declined by 3% to a seasonally adjusted rate of 479,000 units. The figure had risen each of the previous five months. Earlier in the week, this was precisely what Buffett had predicted. In order to clear out the excess residential inventory, new single family housing starts needs to suffer further. It is becoming increasingly evident that government initiatives are driving the recovery, not national or global economic growth. Joseph Brusuelas of Moody’s Ecconomy.com explained; “We are at the stage where an economy exits recession. The recovery is going to be moving along due to policy initiatives and inventory restocking. It’s a
Related Questions
- Where can I get basic facts, figures and detailed statistical information (population, households, housing starts) about Hamilton?
- Besides new housing starts and building permits, what other information is available from the U.S. Census Bureau?
- What is the importance of housing starts and building permits?
