U.S. Housing Starts Tumbled in November

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: The Wall Street Journal.

U.S. Housing Starts Tumbled in November

Level suggests demand for single-family homes steady amid low interest rates

By Jeffrey Sparshott

[e-mail]
http://twitter.com/jeffsparshott

Dec. 16, 2016 8:31 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON U.S. housing starts tumbled in November but remained at a level suggesting steady demand for single-family homes amid low interest rates and steady job creation.

Housing starts dropped 18.7% in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.090 million,* the Commerce Department said Friday. Permits, an indication of how much construction is in the pipeline, were down a milder 4.7% to 1.201 million.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected November starts to fall to 1.23 million and permits to register at 1.24 million. Construction typically begins a month or two after a permit is issued.

The drop-off follows an especially strong October, which registered the highest number of overall starts since July 2007. ... Single-family housing starts, which have accounted for about two-thirds of all activity since the recession ended, slid 4.1% to 828,000. They peaked at more than 1.82 million in 2006, the height of the housing bubble. Single-family permits rose 0.5% to 778,000, the highest level since November 2007.

* http://www.census.gov/construction/nrc/pdf/newresconst.pdf

Read more: http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-housing-starts-tumble-in-november-1481895096

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Business News Fri Dec 16, 2016 9:08am EST

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-idUSKBN1451T3
U.S. housing starts tumble from nine-year high

[Achilleaze]

1. The Yuuuuge & Historic Trumplican-Russian Depression begins

...with whimpering & wailing all across the fruited plains...

Ya can't blame the builders for feeling as though the illegitimate Ruskie-Republican
Cabal going to turn everything to shit.

[ffr]

10. Another 2007 great recession in the waiting.

Next will be violent swings in the stock market, before the inevitable plummet.



Question will be, how bad does it have to get for the rest of us before enough voters decide it's okay to elect Democrats again to fix this mess all over again?

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Renovate

an older smaller home ... materialism eats your soul and harms
your relationships with people

[Merlot]

13. Renovating an older smaller home is materialistic

In SoCal, they start at 500K for about 1000 sq ft 2 bed, 1 bath.

If I moved to Vegas, I could have a newish 3 bed, 2 bath for about 220k. But I would be living in a place that (for me) holds nothing of interest. I choose to stay in an expensive city.

Not sure how that works on the "materialism" scale.

[still_one]

3. In California houses have become unaffordable.

[edhopper]

4. New York City as well nt

[DK504]

5. I had to move out of state

because of housing prices. I could get inexpensive food and health care, it was the rent that was to much. I lived in a "rent controlled" building.

Once the Depression hits no one will be able to buy a house, live in decent housing or maintain their mortgage payments. It is going to be bad, really bad very soon.

[still_one]

6. That is a huge problem, especially in the Bay Area. The rents are becoming unaffordable

for many who have lived in the city for decades

In the South Bay we just passed Measure A for affordable housing. It is a 700 million dollar bond for low-income housing.

It is a start, but really just a drop in the bucket. So much more needs to be done.

Instead of building more highway lanes, we really need to push for more mass transit from more affordable surrounding areas into the bay area.

No wonder the millennials are disillusioned

[CountAllVotes]

7. This is why I left the Bay Area

25 years ago that is. Bought a small house in a rural area for not much 15 years ago. It has tripled in value.
However, this Californian isn't going anywhere.
Paying big rents that took up 1/2 the income even 25 years ago was not something that one could continue to do forever. Luckily I saw that and moved away to a cheaper place.
Don't miss it at all I must admit.

[lordsummerisle]

8. Seattle as well n/t

[elehhhhna]

9. Watch permits, not starts.

Nov 30 is fye for almost all production builders, so they're closing everything they get sold. It's the busiest time of year for builders. Nobody wants to pour concrete when they have homes under roof that they can get off the books.

October November also the absolute best times to buy a new home . If you buy it out of their inventory you can make a hell of a deal.

[haele]

11. And that's why I own a 1560 sq. ft. double wide free and clear.

All I pay is reasonable monthly rent in a mobile home park (pre-mello-roos development) that sublets my utilities.
My ultimate plan is that in ten years when our lease is up at the park and if I can save up enough, I'll buy a lot near provided utilities services, and purchase a manufactured home to put on the property, so ultimately I'd be paying less on the property improvements than I would if I bought a "built" house on a lot. This is Southern California; the average purchase of a 1K sq. ft. 2bdr. 2ba previously owned house on a lot is around $400K.

However, there are still some places around here I can get 1/6 of an acre for under $100K that is reasonably flat after you take a backhoe to level enough of a footprint for it, and a comfortable 1K sq.ft manufactured (i.e., double wide) home with carport can be purchased and placed new on your property for around $160K with delivery, minimal grading and pad, connection and utility (gas, electric, water and sewage) hookup from "the street" included in the price. The rest of the property improvements can be sweat equity - put in as you have time and money.

Manufactured homes may be considered less "valuable", but some of them even in the under 100K range are pretty nice. And they don't typically get bundled up in the same mortgage packages that


Haele

[Captain1way]

12. Just speculation on a trump administration

Is going to cause damage on this nation

We all know what's coming

[NickB79]

14. We just refinanced, just in time.

Locked in 3.6% on a 20 yr loan, from our current 5% 30 yr loan we are 7 years into. We'll be able to pay it off in 15 years at our current pace. Our loan officer said after the election rates jumped almost a full percent.