Calculate your site FeedRank Today
FeedRank, a newly developed algorithm for ranking RSS feeds only on RSSMicro
Click here to learn more
 5/10 Good --- feeds.portfolio.com http://feeds.portfolio.com/portfolio/top5
| Updates throughout the day on the top stories you should be talking about. ... |
Friday, May 16, 2008 --- 71 days ago http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/top-5/2008/05/16/Housing-Starts-Surge?rss=
| There is a glut of housing, driving down prices. So let's build some more! Construction starts on new homes surged a surprising 8.2 percent in April from March, the Commerce Department reported . The unexpected positive headline may buoy markets today and support those who argue that the worst in housing is over. But the strength was entirely in multiunit construction, apartments, and condominiums: Those starts jumped 36 percent in April. Construction starts on single-family homes fell 1.7 percent in April from March, to a rate of 692,000, its lowest level in 17 years. "The headline increase in starts means nothing, it is all due to a rebound in the hugely volatile'' category of multiunit housing, Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, New York, wrote in a note, Bloomberg News reported . Still, building permits for single-family homes, an indicator of future activity, rose 4 percent in April from March. Housing starts data are notoriously volatile, and the government gives the numbers wide margins of error. And homebuilders remain in a bleak mood about the near future. An index of confidence by the National Association of Homebuilders and Wells Fargo fell in late April and early May, to near its record low of December 2007. The president of the association said on Thursday, "The single-family housing market is still deteriorating, and Congress and the Administration must mov ... |
|
|
Recent Posts
|
|
|
Facebook Del.icio.us Digg StumbleUpon Reddit Google
Anytime
