Yesterday’s housing data were suitably glum, with single-family starts and permits both down (0.7% and 3.4%, respectively).
And what about my favorite metric, the number of houses under construction? It fell a hefty 5.3%. Which puts the number of single-family homes under construction at its lowest level in decades:
After the expiration of the new home buyer tax credit, only 286,000 single-family homes were under construction at the end of June. That’s down modestly from the 298,000 to 318,000 levels of the past year, when it looked construction was trying to put in a bottom. Just one more sign of continued weakness in housing markets.
Still we should be happy its not a depression. Just your garden variety recession, a soft patch, but green shoots are coming up all over.
Especially in Detroit, on the lots where they have razed the abandoned houses in what was once the greatest industrial city in the western world.
How long can we keep our eyes closed and ignore the real world evidence that is accruing in growing mounds around us, impeding our movements like a sea of molasses.
Things aren’t working very well, and if we continue to pretend and extend, instead of investigating new ideas and plans we will continue to fail.
How long can we keep our eyes closed and ignore the real world evidence that is accruing in growing mounds around us, impeding our movements like a sea of molasses.
http://www.vanleasingquotes.com/