California saw the third-lowest yearly housing permit total and the worst yearly total on record for single-family units in 2011, according to the California Building Industry Association (CBIA).
CBIA said a total of 47,015 permits were issued statewide last year for new homes, apartments, condominiums, and townhomes, up 5 percent from 2010 when 44,762 permits had been issued. The 2011 total still was down 28 percent from 2008, which had held the distinction of the third-lowest total on record with 64,962 permits issued. Records began being kept in 1954 with the lowest yearly total set in 2009 with 36,421 permits issued.
According to statistics compiled by the Construction Industry Research Board (CIRB), homebuilders pulled permits for a record-low 21,420 single-family homes in 2011, down 16 percent from 2010. Multifamily permits totaled 25,595, up 33 percent from the previous year.
More info
The San Francisco Chronicle
Banks may seize more than 1 million U.S. homes this year after legal scrutiny of their foreclosure practices slowed actions against delinquent property owners in 2011, RealtyTrac said.
Read the full story
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/12/BUPF1MOFAU.DTL
The U.S. Census Bureau of the Dept. of Commerce announced yesterday that construction spending during November 2011 increased 1.2 percent to an estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of $807.1 billion compared with October. The November figure is 0.5 percent above the November 2010 estimate of $803 billion.
During the first 11 months of this year, construction spending amounted to $724.8 billion, 2.5 percent below the $743.6 billion for the same period in 2010.
More info
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index improved to 64.5 (1985=100) in December, up from 55.2 in November. The Present Situation Index increased to 46.7 from 38.3, and the Expectations Index rose to 76.4 from 66.4.
Consumers’ assessment of current conditions improved in December. Those stating business conditions are “good” increased to 16.6 percent from 13.9 percent, while those stating business conditions are “bad” declined to 33.9 percent from 38.0 percent. Consumers’ assessment of the job market also was more positive. Those claiming jobs are “plentiful” increased to 6.7 percent from 5.6 percent, while those claiming jobs are “hard to get” decreased to 41.8 percent from 43 percent.
More info
Fannie Mae’s September National Housing Survey found that Americans are still very pessimistic about the economy, home prices, and household finances. Findings also demonstrate that consumers are paying close attention to economic news and what policymakers are saying, and continue to link their personal financial situations with the current macro-economic environment.
“The lack of a sense of urgency to buy homes, given expectations for further declines in home prices and continued low mortgage rates, coupled with general pessimism regarding their own personal finances and the economy, bodes poorly for the recovery of the housing market,” said Doug Duncan, vice president and chief economist of Fannie Mae.
Highlights of survey include:
Americans noted a very large decline in their expectation for mortgage rates in September, with only 33 percent saying that mortgage rates will go up in the next 12 months (down 12 percentage points since August – the lowest number on record).
For the fourth consecutive month, Americans expect home prices to decline over the next year. On average, Americans expect home prices to go down by 1.1 percent, the highest expected decline to date.
Only 18 percent of respondents expect home prices to increase over the next 12 months (the lowest reported number to date in the National Housing Survey), while 25 percent say they expect home prices to decline (down by 2 percentage points since August).
While 68 percent of Americans say it is a good time to buy a home (down 1 percentage point since last month), only 10 percent of those polled say it is a good time to sell one’s home (up by 1 percentage point since August).
Despite continued consumer caution about taking on a large financial obligation to buy a home, 63 percent say they would buy their next home if they were going to move (up by 1 percentage point since August), while 32 percent of Americans say they would rent their next home (down 2 percentage points since last month).
The number of Americans who expect their personal financial situation to worsen over the next year has decreased for the first time in four months (down from 22 percent in August to 19 percent in September).
More info
