Housing Starts Fall 12.8% In April

Tuesday May 19, 2009
Navivest

The U.S. Commerce Department today reported that housing starts dropped 12.8% in April, to an annual rate of 458,000 units from a revised annual rate of 525,000 units in March, which was a decline of 8.5% from the February reading.

The March reading was revised upward, from an initially reported 510,000 units.

Economists had been forecasting a rise to an annual pace of 540,000 units, with those forecasts being based on recently released data over the past few weeks that suggest the housing market may have hit bottom.

It was just yesterday, that the National Association of Home Builders issued a report, which showed that homebuilder sentiment rose to 16 in May, versus a reading of 14 in April.

This was the best reading since September and the news was partly responsible for the huge rally yesterday, that saw the Dow, NASDAQ and S&P 500 gain 2.85%, 3.11%, 3.04% respectively.

Building permits, which are a good barometer of future home building, were also down, with a decline of 3.3% to an annual rate of 494,000 units being reported for the month.

May 19, 2009 | Filed Under Economy, Real Estate | Leave a Comment