August Housing Starts Decline
While builder confidence is high, as noted in the previous post, new home construction starts continue to show volatility, dropping 14.4% fromJuly. August's numbers peg the annual rate of privately-owned housing starts at 956,000 compared to the revised July estimate of 1,117,000. While this year has shown volatile numbers after a slow start, the August numbers remain a about 8% ahead of year-ago numbers.
A Reuter's article said housing is clawing back after suffering a setback following a spike in mortgage rates last year. It, however, remains constrained by a relatively high unemployment rate and stringent lending practices by financial institutions.
MarketWatch noted that economists have been worried about the erratic performance of the housing market. It’s been five years since the recession ended, and it will take strong, consistent jobs growth to spur a sustained pick up in home building and sales, observers say.
Both articles suggest that the recovery is continuing, though shaky.
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