Hanging Tough: Housing Starts Soar
A: The pace of homebuilding soared in January topping all analysts forecasts, as the real estate market hangs tough in face of a slowdown.
The Census Bureau reported that housing starts hit an annual pace of 2.28 million homes in January, compared to just under 2 million homes in December.
Building Permits (a sign of builders' confidence) were expected to fall to 2.07 million but instead jumped higher to 2.22 million in the month of January. This leading indicator shows that builders' overall were confident with the current state of the market as they filed for new development.
While this affects the rest of the country more than it does for New York City, it is a pleasant surprise that could lead to some psychological relief after months of negative media on the housing slowdown.
~ Housing Starts Highest Since '73
