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NEW YORK, July 16, 2009 (Reuters) — U.S. home builder sentiment in July jumped to its highest level since September as improved sales conditions boosted confidence in the market for new single-family homes, an industry group said on Thursday.

A worker constructs a new home in Geneva, Illinois, June 23, 2009. REUTERS/Jeff Haynes

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The National Association of Home Builders said its preliminary NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index was 17 in July, up from 15 in June.

Readings below 50 in the index, which was launched in January 1985, indicate more builders view market conditions as poor rather than favorable. The July index was above expectations of 16, based on a Reuters survey of economists.

“In an encouraging sign, the improvement was driven by a 3 point gain in the index of present conditions to 17, implying a pickup in new home sales,” said Michelle Meyer, an economist at Barclays Capital in New York.

“The fact that the gain was driven by current conditions is a positive sign, suggesting home buyer interest increased despite the rise in mortgage rates over June,” she said.

The rise in home builder sentiment is a positive for the U.S. housing market, which has been showing some signs of stabilization, with sales rising and home price declines moderating in many regions of the country.

“Builders are seeing slightly better sales conditions this month as consumers take advantage of the first-time buyer tax credit, low interest rates and attractive home prices,” NAHB Chairman Joe Robson, a home builder from Tulsa, Oklahoma, said in a statement.

The government’s $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, part of the economic stimulus package, is helping boost sales.

But there is concern about what lies ahead, Robson added.

“A true recovery in the housing market and overall economy cannot take place until the continuing foreclosure crisis is abated and a decent flow of credit is restored to housing production,” Robson said.

“Meanwhile, the stalled jobs market is a major concern to builders and potential home buyers alike,” he said.

The gauge of current single-family homes sales rose to 17 from 14. The index of sales expected in the next six months, however, was unchanged at 26. But the measure of prospective-buyer traffic climbed, rising to 14 from 13, the group said.

The U.S. housing market is suffering the worst downturn since the Great Depression as a huge supply of unsold homes, tighter lending standards and record foreclosures push down home prices.

HOME BUILDERS ARE HURTING

U.S. home builders, struggling under sinking demand and a credit crisis, have faced a flood of homes in foreclosure.

But, interest rates on mortgages have fallen in recent weeks, a key development that could help turn the hard-hit housing sector around.

Home builders have curbed their new construction. They have also been reducing their inventories of unsold homes by slashing prices at the expense of profits to pay off debt and keep afloat.

“Although today’s HMI is positive news that helps confirm the market is bouncing around a bottom, the gain was entirely contained in the component gauging current sales conditions, while the component gauging sales expectations for the next six months remained virtually flat for a fourth consecutive month,” NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe said in a statement.

“Builders recognize the recovery is going to be a slow one and that we are facing a number of substantial negative forces,” he said.

On a regional basis, the housing market index declined in only one of the four regions in July. The Midwest was unchanged at 14 and the South posted a five-point increase to 20. The Northeast posted a three-point decrease to 16. The West was unchanged at 15 this month.

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre56f599-us-usa-housing-homebuilders/

reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC  canadian funding corp CEO

As many of you have probably heard by now, this June was the best on record in terms of house sales as reported by The Toronto Real Estate Board.

The total number of houses sold rose by an amazing 27% in June while the average sale price rose 2%. Keep in mind that these statistics include all of the GTA from the Hamilton/Wentworth townline in the west to the Durham/Northumberland townline in the east and from Lake Ontario north into Lake Simcoe. Of course not all areas experienced the same amount of growth, however, Durham Region (on the most part) is in line with these increases. To see a 3 year comparable market evaluation for South Pickering, North Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa and Courtice/Bowmanville click on Durham Region.

The other statistic to take notice of is the number of homes for sale this year as compared with last year. While sales have increased 27% this June, the number of new listings has decreased by 17% and the number of active listings has decreased by 30%. What does this mean for sellers and buyers? There is a lot less inventory to choose from and a lot more people who are looking to buy. This would explain the rise in the number of multiple offers we have been seeing over the past several weeks as well as the increase in prices.

Who knows where all of this will end up in the next several months. There is still some speculation in the economic circles that the “worst is yet to come” and yet others have changed their predictions to an earlier anticipated recovery.

http://getmovingwithkaren.blogspot.com/2009/07/june-housing-statistics-are-in.html

reviewed by Moishe ALexander, CFC  canadian funding corp CEO

Housing construction makes gains in May after hitting 13-year low

When Toronto-based developer Murray Koebel put his housing project on the market last summer, he didn’t expect it would coincide with the stock market crash.

There was barely a nibble for seven months at his Vista Homes project in Pickering. So the Vista Homes president responded, like many other developers, by slashing prices by up to $30,000 on some of the units in his development, comprised of 45 single, detached homes and townhouses.

“Those were difficult times,” Koebel said.

But since February, he has sold 18 homes, or about 40 per cent of the development. That compares with the one or two he had sold in the six months prior. “Things really started to pick up in the spring, when people saw that it wasn’t as bad as they thought,” he said.

As a result, Koebel expects to break ground this summer and is cautiously looking around at future projects, a decided turnaround from a few months earlier.

The figures seem to bear him out: The market, while still slow with a recovery not yet on the horizon, shows signs of improvement. Canadian housing construction bounced back in May after dropping to a 13-year low in April, according to figures released by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. yesterday, with seasonally adjusted housing starts hitting 128,400 in May, up from 117,600 in the month prior.

“With the Canadian economy poised to begin the recovery process by this fall, the worst of the residential construction recession might be behind us,” said BMO Capital Markets economist Robert Kavcic.

Starts also rebounded strongly in the Toronto-area market, up by 35 per cent in May to 22,000 units. Most of that was due to the volatile multiple family segment, which includes condominiums and apartment buildings. “After plunging precipitously since late 2007, and appearing to be in free fall in recent months, this rebound may be an indication the sector is perhaps stabilizing,” TD Securities analyst Millan Mulraine said.

The Ontario Home Builders’ Association said yesterday that builders, including Koebel, were seeing “signs of hope” and reporting increased traffic in their sales offices and model homes.

Activity is expected to pick up slightly in the second half of the year.

“Tighter resale markets in recent months, improving credit conditions and a backlog of sales awaiting construction are all factors that will boost activity,” said Ted Tsiakopoulos, regional economist for the CMHC.

Despite the positive figures, starts are still down 42 per cent in year-to-date figures compared with last year, at both the national and Toronto-area levels.

Analysts say the overall drop in starts to date is not necessarily a bad thing, since there has been massive overbuilding in some Canadian cities, particularly in the condominium sector, where more than 35,000 units in the Toronto area alone are already under construction and expected to be largely completed this year and next.

BMO expects the rate of starts to remain below long-term trends because there is too much supply already on the market.

“A sharp rebound is unlikely in this sector thanks to about six years of overbuilding – housing starts will likely remain below the rate of household formation through 2010,” Kavcic said.

One thing that should keep construction workers busy is the renovation industry, which reported $21.3 billion spent by consumers last year, up by $1.6 billion from 2007, according to a separate report by the CMHC.

Toronto Star

http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/article/647566

The report brought by Moishe Alexander, CFC CEO