Sunday, May 18, 2008

Money & Business

USN Current Issue
The Home Front by Alex Markels

Another Painful Month for Housing

April 16, 2008 02:26 PM ET | Luke Mullins | Permanent Link

March housing starts dropped nearly 12 percent from February and more than 36 percent from a year earlier, the Census Bureau reported today. At the same time, "permits dropped 5.8 percent to 927,000, also far below the consensus, 970,000, and the lowest level since April 1991," Ian Shepherdson, the chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, said in a report. He called it "further evidence, as if it were needed, of the catastrophe in the housing market."

Still, despite the dismal report, a decline in home-building activity should help reduce the bloated inventory that is punishing the market.

"The drop in starts combined with falling prices will help pare the overhang of unsold homes that will eventually set the stage for a rebound in homebuilding later this year or early in 2009," David Resler, chief economist at Nomura Securities, said in a report.

Tags: housing market | housing

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Reader Comments

housing market

it seems that maybe a there is light at the end of the tunnel.......

i am not a subprime borrower and got caught in the tail wind of it all.

i have been in my house for over 20 years......refinance in 2005 to clean it up for sale

wooooooooo what happened

thanks ! going back on the market in september 2008

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