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Wednesday, May 18 2011 - By Landon Myers
Home building stalls in April
Housing starts dropped in April after a strong showing in the previous month, the U.S. Census Bureau reports. Privately owned starts were at a seasonally adjusted 523,000, which is 13 percent lower than March, and 23.9 percent lower than this time last year.
A housing start is the excavation for the foundation of a residential structure, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Experts had expected this number to hit 563,000 last month, but projects were derailed in the South after tornadoes and flooding stuck the area. The number of building permits also fell in April, down 4 percent from March's pace of 574,000, at 551,000. These permits indicate future home construction, and experts believe their decline is related to the stalled economic recovery, The Street reports. The unemployment rate is also holding strong at 9 percent and people continue moving out of homes that are being foreclosed on. "Job growth is essential to household formation and to keep home prices from falling further," Eric Green, chief market economist at TD Securities Incorporated in New York, who forecast permits at 550,000, told Bloomberg. More News |
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