Housing Starts On A High observe

From the months of February to March, housing starts in the U.S. have increased to 7% and hit a record high of 46.7% since last year, said the U.S. Census Bureau last Tuesday.

Last months starts rose to a yearly rate of 1.03 million units from 968,000 in February – a figure above 706,000 in last years record. This is a number we havent seen since June 2008. These gains signal continued improvements for the housing recovery in the U.S. that everybody was waiting for a few years.

In March, however, the rate of single-family starts declined 4.8% to 619,000 units from 650,000 as of February.

There is also a meaningful drop in building permits, reaching 3.9% from February to March and accounted for only 902,000 permits filed the past month. The present number of units can be compared to February data and is 17.3% better than the 769,000 permits filed in March 2012.

Home completions achieved fairer results with 800,000 more units in March from 721,000 in February. March had 11% more completions and was considerably a lot healthier with 36.3% more progress.

Quicken Loans Chief Economist Bob Walters lauded the 7% rise in new home construction in March as one of the highest in almost five years.

He additional that there have been pent up demands and it is now becoming an engine of growth in the house construction department, contributing to the rise of housing starts which grew at a rate of 7% last March. Everyone wants a piece of their dream home, but due to the inadequacy of current inventory, consumers resort to construction. This, said Walters, is a sign of a strengthening economy and one proof of that is last weeks sudden increase in mortgage applications and home prices.

The construction of apartments, which usually fluctuate more than the single family homes, was also very strong. It jumped 31 percent to an annual rate of 417,000 units, which we have not seen since the early 2006.

The housing recovery in the U.S. will encourage consumers to use more, which will stimulus additional percentage point of economic growth. More home building and sales average more sales at furniture and home improvement stores.

Home builders who have been very passive in recent years are now concerned about the limited land and rising cost of building materials and labor. Despite these concerns, home builders project climbing sales figures over the next six months.

Visit strength Real Estate Marketing to learn more about U.S. Housing Recovery in 2013.

By Sara Goldman, PowerRealEstateMarketing.com