US Home Construction Ticks Up in November
US home construction rose in November after two consecutive months of declines. The Commerce Department's report showed that builders began construction during the month on a seasonally adjusted 555,000 homes, up 3.9 percent from October construction starts.
Even after November's gain, housing starts are still just 16 percent above the record-low pace of 477,000 reported in April 2009, the slowest pace on records that date back to 1959. The figures reported by the Commerce Department on Thursday are also 76 percent below the peak, set in January 2006, and 45 percent below what economists say would be a healthy level, which is an adjusted rate of 1 million.
All of November's growth came in the single-family home sector, which increased 6.9 percent from October to a pace of 465,000, while the apartment / condo sector declined 9.1 percent to a pace of just 90,000. Housing permits, which is considered a barometer for future construction, dropped 4 percent to an annualized pace of 530,000. The reported level of housing permits marked the lowest figure for the data since April 2009.
The weak housing market is one of a number of challenges facing te nation's struggling economy, along with a continued high unemployment rate, which currently stands at 9.8 percent. Data from the National Association of Realtors shows that every new home built creates the equivalent of three new jobs for a year and generates an average of $90,000 in taxes.
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