Posts Tagged ‘homebuilders’Housing Perspective: July Homebuilder SentimentThe bounce rolls on. This morning, US Homebuilders gave their most positive outlook on the market in the past 12 months, as the National Association of Homebuilders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index ticked up to 18, from 17. To be sure, 18 is a dismal reading, but builders appear to see a light at the end [...] Housing Perspective: July Homebuilder SentimentThings are looking up for US homebuilders — or at least they think so. The National Association of Homebuilders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index registered a 17 this month, its highest level since September of last year. The measure jumped from 15 in June, after hitting a low this past March of a measly 9. Anything [...] Housing Perspective: March New Home SalesNew Home Sales in March came in higher than expected, even as prices fell from this month last year. According to Bloomberg, the Commerce Department reported that builders tallied sales last month at an annual pace of 356,000, down just slightly from February. Inventories dropped to the lowest level in 7 years, while prices dipped [...] Housing Perspective: April Homebuilder SentimentEchoing similarly rosy readings from other segments of the housing market, Homebuilder confidence jumped in April to 14 from 9. According to Bloomberg, this is the biggest jump since May 2003. Economists, which continue to be lost in the woods when it comes to predicting housing data, were expecting the index to come in at [...] Housing Perspective: February Home Builder SentimentBy RYAN TAYLOR The National Association of Home Builders, or NAHB, released its confidence numbers for February this morning and the reading unexpectedly rose to 9, up from 8 in January. 8 is the lowest level the index has ever reached. This surprise increase is not exactly a reason to start popping champagne and celebrating [...] Housing Perspective: Home Prices Fall … AgainBy RYAN TAYLOR The National Association of Realtors announced yesterday that the median home price in the US fell by 12% from a year earlier. Not surprisingly, the fall in prices was driven by the ever increasing number of foreclosure sales which accounted for 45 percent of all transactions. The pressure on prices is only [...] Fighting Debt With… Debt?By ANDREW JEFFERY This post first appeared on Minyanville. Our elected officials appear convinced that Americans should buy stuff they don’t need with money they don’t have. The Senate, in passing its version of the over $800 billion economic stimulus package yesterday, threw a great deal of cash at 2 industries whose products we have [...] Housing Perspective: November Housing StartsBy AUSTIN NELSON Housing starts in the U.S. fell to their lowest levels since the government started keeping statistics on the subject in 1959. The drop is staggering — almost 20% since October — and is another stark indication of the current state of the U.S. housing industry, not to mention the economy as whole. [...] Housing Perspective: August Case-Shiller Home Price IndexThe S&P/Case-Shiller home price index is out today, showing a continuation of the downtrend in property values. Data from August — two full months before the financial crisis spun out of control — shows weakness across the country: Prices fell in August for the 25th consecutive month Prices in 10 major markets plunged a record [...] |