MULTI-HOUSING NEWS REPORTS ON HOUSING STATISTICS
April Market Pulse
Published: April 01, 2008
Apartment Starts: Multifamily (5+ units) starts surged by 15 percent in February from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 331,000 and were 23 percent above the same period one year earlier. (These date include both for-sale and for-rent housing starts.) Actual (not seasonally adjusted) starts totaled 43,000 through the first two months of the year, up 19 percent from one year earlier.
Rent Changes: The year-over-year change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for rents has now trailed the change for overall consumer prices for the past three months ending in February. It outpaced overall prices for most of 2007.
Interest Rates: Both the prime rate and the three-month LIBOR continued their decline by falling again in February. And even though the Fed’s benchmark 10-year Treasury note (30-year fixed-rate mortgages are usually tied to it) held firm in February, data through mid-March suggests that it is coming down. Furthermore, in light of the Fed’s determination to cut its federal funds rate, all three rates should continue to fall.
Sources for Starts, Rent Changes, Interest Rates: National Association of Home Builders.
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