The Commerce Department confirmed what those of us in the real estate industry have been experiencing for months. The September figures are in and U.S. home construction rose 15% to a seasonally adjusted 872,000. Construction of single-family homes also rose 11% to the fastest rate in FOUR YEARS! Projections for future housing starts jumped 12% via applications for building permits to an annual rate of 894,000… also the highest since July of 2008.
Nationally, the construction rate increased 38% year over year. The low point was 478,000 in the middle of the great recession – April 2009; and the height of 2 million in 2007 before the world changed.
Different regions of the country fared differently with the Northeast lagging though the recovery is fully established. Keep in mind new home sales only account for approximately 20% of all home sales.
Best of all though, according to the National Association of Home Builders, each new home built, generates about $90,000 in tax revenues and creates approximately 3 JOBS and isn’t job creation the most important economic stimulator!