New Homes are Under Construction!

Friday saw Housing Starts up 5.9% in July, hitting an 896,000 unit annual rate. All the gain was due to multi-family starts, which rebounded after their steep drop in June, while single-family starts slipped 2.2% for the month. However the underlying home building trends remain upward. Single-family starts are up 15.4% over a year ago and the total number of homes under construction is up 30% versus a year ago. Experts say the upward trend in home building should continue for at least a couple of years. They believe population growth and tear downs will require starts to ultimately rise to about 1.5 million units per year, most likely by 2015. This level of building puts the number of homes increasing at the same rate as the population. Building Permits headed up 2.7% in July, with permits for single-unit homes up 17.9% over a year ago. The National Association of Home Builders reported their Builders Confidence Index at its highest level since November 2005.