The Real Estate consulting company, Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, sees some positive signs in the housing market. They site their optimism on housing starts posting monthly increases and single family permits posting a positive gain in April. One thing of note is the comment about housing affordability being the highest it has been in years. This is a fancy way of saying homes are cheaper than they’ve been in a long long time, and as investors we like cheap houses.
While March housing data showed that the sales environment for both new and existing home were still quite sluggish, the small increase in housing starts along with a rebound in building permits may suggest that the worst of this housing downturn may be behind us. While it would be premature to declare the bottom reached, April’s permits and starts data are positive signs that the market may have finally started to stabilize. Total housing starts have now posted monthly increases in three of the last four months. April was also the first month in over a year which single-family permits posted a monthly gain. We can see the fundamental changes taking place as affordability for housing is the highest it has been in years. Ideally this will be enough to drag any hesitant buyers off the sidelines.
Hanley Wood Market Intelligence
Posted by Carter Brown
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