The overall prices of home in the country has gone up over the years it is becoming more and more difficult to buy a home. Add that interest hike given by the Federal Reserve last December and the short supply of homes to be bought create a rather difficult scenario for those wanting to own a home.
Meanwhile, speaking of housing, Forbes reports that the U.S. Commerce Department has said Wednesday, Jan. 20, that groundbreakings and permits issued for new home constructions has dropped last month. If it is any consolation, however, last year had 10.8 percent more groundbreakings compared to 2014, which means that there were an estimated 1.111 million housing units that were started as opposed to 1.003 million the year before. Even permits issued increased by 12 percent over 2014 at 1.178 million.
Forbes adds that last month's housing had a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.149 million, 2.5 percent below than the revised November projection of 1.179 million, but 6.4 percent above December 2014′s rate of 1.08 million. Meanwhile, single-family housing starts were at a (seasonally adjusted, annual) rate of 768,000 in December, 3.3 percent down November's revised figure of 794,000. Starts on buildings with five or more units dive down in December to a (seasonally adjusted, annual) rate of 365,000.
In addition, Forbes continues, "Overall, December permitting tumbled 3.9% from November to a (seasonally adjusted, annual) rate of 1.232 million. December's level was 14.4% above a year earlier, when the estimate stood at 1.077 million. Permitting for buildings with five or more units fell to a (seasonally adjusted, annual) rate of 455,000 in December, while permits for single-family homes rose 1.8% to 740,000 in December compared to November's revised figure of 727,000."
It seems that the permitting figures indicate an increase in single-family home building, which has been considered weaker than multi-family construction when the housing sector was on its recovery stage. In the last 4 months, it has been noticed that housing starts have been up and down, diving in August and rebounding in September, only to fall again the following month and make another rebound the month after.
For now, the rest remains to be seen on how the housing market will fare this year.
