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Posts Tagged ‘housing market’

Just released Commerce Department figures indicate that U.S. housing starts dropped to a record low of 458,000 in April.

A 13% decline to an annual rate of 458,000 was led by a 46% decline in multi-family starts, compared to March when builders broke ground on 525,000 homes.

Building permits, which are a sign of future construction fell by 3.3% to a record low rate of 494,000 and taken together the two declines suggest that house prices have not yet reached rock-bottom.

So called experts had forecast an increase to a 520,000 annual pace from a 510,000 previously estimated pace the prior month, and they also forecast that building permits would increase to 530,000 annual rate.

But to give credit where it’s due, Maxwell Clarke, who is the chief U.S. economist at IDEAglobal Inc said even before the report came out that, “Weakness in housing continues. Declining prospects for developers should continue to act as a drag on investment and overall output in 2009″.

Mixed in with the bad news was a little good news however, because construction of single-family homes rose 2.8% to a 368,000 rate, and that was for the second straight month.

Overall the housing market is showing some signs of stabilization and confidence amongst U.S. homebuilders in May increased to the highest level since September, and although sales of new homes are still 70% below their 2005 highs, they have risen slightly from their record January lows.

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The Federal Reserve Bank’s plan to buy mortgage-backed securities in order to drive down interest in the U.S. appears to be working, as fixed mortgage rates fell for a second consecutive week, and the number of mortgage applications rose, boosted by an increase in refinancing applications.

Freddie Mac reported that the rate for a 30-year fixed home loan fell to 4.80 percent from 4.82 percent a week earlier, whilst the 15-year fixed rate remained unchanged at 4.48 percent.

The central bank is attempting to drive down interest rates by cutting the supply of outstanding mortgage bonds, thereby boosting their price and lowering their yields, thus allowing banks to reduce their rates on new mortgages, whilst continuing to sell mortgage securities at a profit.

Celia Chen, who is the senior director of Moody’s, Economy.com commented, “The policy is working. Mortgage interest rates are falling to a record low, which will stimulate some buying of homes”.

The not so good news is that sales of previously owned U.S. homes fell in March, after climbing by the biggest amount in more than five years just one month earlier.

Purchases decreased by 3% to an annual rate of 4.57 million, which was lower than the 4.71 million which was forecast, and prices were down 12% from a year ago, with distressed properties accounting for about 50% of all sales.

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