Below are stories in the SendtoNews archives that indicate Construction as their primary category:
Anyone who was hoping that we could put the worst of the housing slump behind us and start building and selling homes again must have felt dismay when reading the latest home construction news. A report by Bloomberg News dated April 17, 2012 indicates that home construction rates in the previous month had dropped 5.8%. This drop was worse than what economists had been predicting. The cause appears to be the continuing glut of existing housing on the market, which is reducing demand in many areas for new homes. These existing houses are often selling at very low prices.
Borrowing costs remain very low and costs for labor remain depressed as well. These factors on their own have not been enough to spur the construction of new homes in the numbers that would be needed to give a substantial boost to the economy. In related news, home construction companies are losing confidence, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
This slump in home building was unexpected after a fairly strong beginning to the year. The previously more optimistic rates of home building may have been spurred by unexpectedly mild weather in some regions of the country. The current slump is made worse by tight credit conditions for builders and a large overhang of foreclosures that have not yet cleared the market. There is some potentially good home construction news however. The number of housing permits issued has risen in March in comparison to February, and is up 30% over one year ago. This could be a sign that home construction will speed up in the summer months.
