New Atlanta Homes Entering the Market

Good news for people working in Atlanta real estate: Housing starts nationwide rose 1.5 percent in January.

Building on significant upward revisions to numbers for the previous two months, nationwide production of new single-family homes and apartments increased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of nearly 700,000 units in January according to the U.S. Commerce Department. This marks the second-best pace of overall housing production since October of 2008.

“Today’s solid housing starts report indicates that builders are putting more of their crews back to work, and adds to the growing field of evidence that the overall housing market is gradually but consistently moving in the right direction,” said Barry Rutenberg, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Gainesville, Fla. In addition to today’s numbers, recent builder surveys have indicated steadily increasing optimism regarding market conditions while the number of improving housing markets nationwide has grown substantially over the past six months, he noted.

“The fact that the three-month moving average for housing starts has now increased for nine consecutive months and is approaching the 700,000 mark for the first time since October of 2008 is indicative of a solid recovery in housing activity stemming from recent firming in employment and consumer confidence measures,” agreed NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “That said, housing production is still far from what would be considered normal in a healthy market, and many challenges remain for home builders in terms of tight credit conditions, difficult appraisals and the continued flow of foreclosed properties on the market – all of which are certainly slowing the pace of improvement in both housing and the overall economy.”

Here are some key statistics from January.

• Single-family starts held virtually flat in January with a 1.0 percent decline to a 508,000-unit rate. Combined with the revised December number, this is the best pace of single-family starts since April of 2010.
• Single-family building permits also remained virtually unchanged, with a 0.9 percent increase in January to 445,000 units – again, the best pace since April of 2010.
• Multifamily starts rose 8.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 191,000 units for the month, permits edged up 0.4 percent to 231,000 units.
• The South posted the biggest gain in housing starts in January with an 18.3 percent increase,
• The South also posted the largest gain in permit issuance in January, with a 10.1 percent increase.

For more housing statistics from January, visit the National Association of Home Builders website.