Housing’s good-news period doesn’t last long
We saw some unexpected good news from the housing industry last month. First, there was the report that housing construction starts rose more than 20 percent in February. Then came the news that the sales of existing homes also rose, more than 5 percent, during that same month.
Of course, there weren’t many signs that either of these positive trends would last. After all, housing sales always rise from January to February. The fact that they did the same thing this year offered no proof that the housing market is on or near the rebound.
Now comes the inevitable bad news. According to a recent story in the Washington Post, new-home construction fell a whopping 11 percent in March.
As the Post story says, this pretty much dashes the hope that the housing market had already begun its recovery.
The drop was actually larger than analysts had predicted, never a good sign. And much of it came in the multi-family sector of home construction, apartments and condominiums. Construction of new units in this category fell a dizzying 46.2 percent, according to the Washington Post story.
The number of housing starts for all types of residences is down 48.4 percent from one year ago. That stat presents a telling picture for how much the housing industry is suffering these days.
The numbers are a grim way to end another week. But it’s better to know the truth — and to understand that we have a long way to go before housing recovers — than it is to hold false hopes that the housing industry is in better shape than it actually is.
