Tuesday, Mar 17, 2009
Green shoots in the US property market
CNN: Housing starts unexpectedly surge
Initial construction of U.S. homes unexpectedly surged in February, after falling for eight months, according to a government report released Tuesday.
Posted by flashman @ 08:31 PM (544 views) Add Comment
4 Comments
- If you do not have an admin password leave the password field blank.
- If you would like to request a password allowing you to add comments and blog news articles without needing each one approved manually, send an e-mail to the webmaster.
- Your email address is required so we can verify that the comment is genuine. It will not be posted anywhere on the site, will be stored confidentially by us and never given out to any third party.
- Please note that any viewpoints published here as comments are user's views and not the views of HousePriceCrash.co.uk.
- Please adhere to the Guidelines
1. drewster said...
"according to a government report"
If I were the government, I'd be sorely tempted to massage the figures and make it look like recovery is on the way. Part of this financial crisis is a lack of confidence and upbeat figures can boost confidence. However, the Obama administration doesn't need to do this - they're still in the honeymoon and they can still blame Bush for everything that goes wrong. Thus I think these figures are unadulterated (though they could just be plain wrong).
Off-topic, but I just saw a tv ad for www.auctiontoday.co.uk - also known as Real Estate Disposition Corporation, the American property auction giant which was mentioned on here a few weeks ago.
2. quiet guy said...
"With new home sales still falling and the months' supply at a record, there is no reason for homebuilding to rise," wrote Ian Sheperdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics in a research note. "This is a temporary rebound, not a recovery."
Early days to start cheering the recovery perhaps? The market will inform us in due course.
3. drewster said...
quiet guy,
In January the Halifax house price index showed a surprise 2.0% rise - but that was more than offset by February's 2.3% drop. One month's figures are meaningless.
4. tyrellcorporation said...
I read somewhere yesterday (Bloomberg I think) that the only reason housing starts had increased dramatically was to do with ..... the weather. Ta-dahhhh!
An unusually mild start to the year in many states meant construction could start earlier and more rapidly. Mystery over.