Housing Starts

Curtis Forrester moved into a brand-new house in Victorville last week, but there was little time to enjoy the Jacuzzi and designer kitchen. He was there only to see it destroyed. Just a few days after his arrival, the two-story residence and three other luxurious model homes were crushed and hauled off for scrap, the latest fallout from Southern California's real estate crash. The homes were part of a planned 16-unit project in this community 100 miles north of Los Angeles.

New building activity slowed to a five-month low in March, but fret not: U.S. builders still seem optimistic about the housing market, requesting the most permits for future residential projects in 3½ years. Permit requests last month for construction on single-family homes and apartments jumped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 747,000, up 4.5% from February and a whopping 30.1% from March 2011, according to the Commerce Department .   That's the highest number since September 2008.

The workmen spread across 17 acres in Woodland Hills cut a tableau of movement. Kneeling in dirt, their arms pumping like pistons, they hammer together wood molds so new home foundations can be poured. Nearby, an earth mover carves out a street from mounds of weeds and a water truck sprays behind to keep down the dust. All of this activity is the handiwork of Kaufman & Broad, the state's biggest new home builder.

New construction on homes and apartments increased sharply in November, a bright spot for the beleaguered U.S. real estate market. Housing starts last month rose 9.3% from a revised October estimate and were 20.1% above those in November 2010. Homes and apartments were built at a rate last month that would produce 685,000 new units this year, when adjusted for seasonal variations, according to the Commerce Department. The gains were largely driven by the volatile apartment sector, meaning the uptick could reverse itself.

Home builders broke ground on new residences at a faster clip in November than in October, a positive sign for the housing market and the residential real estate industry. Housing starts rose 8.9% from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 574,000 units, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. However, that figure represented a 12.4% decline from November 2008. The jump can be attributed in part to a shift in weather patterns, Patrick Newport, U.S. economist for Global Insight, said in a note to clients.

Groundbreakings on single-family homes held steady for the third month in a row in March, even as the number of condominium units and apartments under construction fell sharply, according to federal data released Thursday. It was the second straight day of relatively good news on the housing front and helped the Dow Jones industrial average rise 1.19% to 8,125.43 on Thursday. Shares of Southern California home builders KB Home and Ryland were both up at the close of trading.

Brutish winter weather drove housing starts in the U.S. down in December, but the South and the West fared better than the chillier Midwest and Northeast. December starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 557,000, a 4% decline from a revised November estimate of 580,000, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. The figure was 0.2% above the December 2008 rate of 556,000. But another key indicator in the government data showed some signs of improvement for the construction industry.

U.S. housing starts in a snowy January fell a sharper-than-expected 7.9% to their lowest since August. Residential construction starts tumbled last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.903 million from a downwardly revised 2.067-million rate in December, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. December housing starts had been at the highest level since February 1984. Permits, an indicator of builder confidence, declined 2.8% to 1.899 million units from a 1.

The new year should see the largest number of housing starts in California in a decade, according to economic forecasts. However, new-home production will continue to fall far short of the state's housing needs, according to California Building Industry Assn. chief executive Robert Rivinius. Despite a reform of the construction defect dispute process last year, which should encourage housing production, state policymakers need to do more, Rivinius said.

U.S. housing starts and home sales should fall short of 2004's record pace, but only slightly, as tame inflation helps sustain low long-term mortgage rates in 2005, Freddie Mac economists said. Frank Nothaft, chief economist at the No. 2 U.S. mortgage funder, said housing starts should decline this year by 1% to 2% while 30-year mortgage rates are seen increasing by no more than half a percentage point.

Construction of single-family homes picked up nationally last month but not in the West. Single-family homes were started in October at an annual rate of 434,000, a 5.1% increase over the previous month, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The report follows news of improved builder sentiment released the day before, with an index measuring builder confidence reaching its highest level since May 2010. Economists called the jump in new single-family-home starts a positive sign, as the nation's beleaguered real estate market was at least showing life.

New-home construction slumped last month, falling 4.3% from November to December, the government said Wednesday. The month-over-month decline was worse than expected by economists, and construction starts fell 8.2% compared with December 2009 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 529,000 units, the Commerce Department reported. A 9% drop in single-family home construction drove the decline from November to December. The news comes one day after the National Assn. of Homebuilders reported that builder sentiment, according to its index, was unchanged at the low level of 16 in January.

With the Tucson shootings as a backdrop, the House began debating a Republican resolution Tuesday to repeal President Obama's healthcare overhaul. Both sides took pains to dial back the heated rhetoric that accompanied passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act last year. Bitter debate over the issue helped cut short the careers of many congressional Democrats and ushered in a new political lexicon characterized by outbursts of "You lie!" and "Hell, no!" The conservative passions it generated helped Republicans win control of the House in November.

Construction on new residential buildings fell 11.7% in October, far worse than many analysts had expected and providing fresh evidence that the real estate market is struggling as it enters the traditionally slow winter season. The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that housing starts fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 519,000 last month, a 1.9% decline from October 2009. The weakness was concentrated in the market for buildings with multiple units: apartments and condominiums.

New residential construction dropped in June, another indication that the U.S. housing market is struggling. Housing starts fell 5% in June from May, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 549,000, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. That was 5.8% below the June 2009 rate. Single-family home construction fell 0.7% in June from May, and construction of apartment buildings dropped nearly 20%. "The housing industry remains stuck in a rut, with both sales and construction activity moribund," said Michael D. Larson, an interest rate analyst with Weiss Research.

U.S. housing starts hit their lowest level in eight months in June, further evidence the economy lost momentum in the second quarter, but a rise in permits offered hope that homebuilding was poised to pick up. The Commerce Department said Tuesday housing starts dropped 5.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 549,000 units, the lowest since October. It was the second straight month of declines in groundbreaking activity and was well below market expectations for a 580,000-unit rate.

Randy Shepherd figured it was time. Shepherd, a residential contractor, bought two new Chevrolet Silverado pickups, one in December and the other in March. The construction season was about to kick off. "We were busy last year, but things are really starting to pick up now," said Shepherd, owner of Shepherd Enterprises of Independence, Mo. "Last time we bought a truck was nine years ago, so we wanted to update our equipment." Shepherd is not alone in his spending decisions, and their purchases of pickups are signs that an economic recovery is starting to surface.