The media tells us that there is a glut of housing on the market. We hear regular alarm bells about “overhang” and foreclosures sending housing prices down further. But do the alarms match reality?
According to a report in Calculated Risk (Dude, Where’s my inventory?), the inventory of housing is down 22 percent from the same time last year. Read the entire report at Calculated Risk by clicking here.
Writing for Calculated Risk, housing economist Tom Lawler says he has become more optimistic about home building for 2012. In fact, Lawler is more optimistic than NAHB, a revers of his position last year, when he thought all of the housing economists were overly optimistic.
Read Lawler’s report at calculatedriskblog.com by clicking here.
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| Source: Bureau of Labor and Statistics |
For the first time since 2006, residential construction rose. Employment in residential construction rose 46,000 jobs in 2011, and currently stands at 2.18 million jobs lower than its peak in 2006. According to Calculated Risk, construction employment is still “mostly moving sideways, but at least it was not a drag on employment and GDP in 2011.”
Read the full report at calcualtedriskblog.com by clicking here.
National Public Radio also provided good news about construction employment in a report they aired on January 6.
The BuildFax Residential Remodeling Index was 124.3, up 22 percent from 109.7 in April and the highest level in the history of the index.