NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Housing starts and permits both fell to their lowest levels in more than a decade, as the latest readings on the battered housing and homebuilding markets came in below expectations Thursday.
Housing starts fell 6.1 percent to an annual rate of 1.38 million in July from a revised 1.47 million rate in June. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast starts would fall to a 1.41 million pace in June.
The latest reading is the lowest level of starts since January 1997 and is down nearly 21 percent from the year-earlier level.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/16/news/economy/housing_starts/index.htm?postversion=2007081609
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. –Benjamin Franklin
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So, how do you feel about that news, Dan? Has it got you concerned? Or do you chalk it up to the natural ebb and flow of the marketplace?
Michael
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Used knowledge is even more valuable.
Dunno. It's worrisome for the economy as a whole, but probably more of a worry for the pros here. I certainly wouldn't want to have a spec home halfway done in the current climate.Clearly the housing market has been overheated for several years, both because of cheap credit and because both speculation and true demand were driving up prices. What we're seeing now is all those factors souring at once, so this is worse than your usual "blip", I think.And on top of this the Minneapolis bridge collapse appears to have broken down resistance to long-needed tax increases -- good in general, but coming at a bad time for the economy. On the flip side, though, if a lot of money is spent on infrastructure that can help move the economy along until housing rebounds.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
"On the flip side, though, if a lot of money is spent on infrastructure that can help move the economy along until housing rebounds."You mean like the "Big Dig"?http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=1017243
Didn't have that specifically in mind.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin