Housing Starts and Permits - Record Lows

From CNNMoney.com, "Record low for housing permits, starts":

Housing permits and starts both tumbled to record lows in December, according to a government report released Thursday.

The Commerce Department said housing permits fell 10.7% from the prior month to an annual rate of 549,000 in December, while starts were down 15.5% from November to an annual rate of 550,000.

Both measures were at the lowest levels since the government started tracking the data in 1959.

Housing numbers were worse than expected to boot:

The reports also came in much worse than expected. The Commerce Department was expected to report that building permits ticked down to an annual rate of 615,000, unchanged from a revised reading for the month prior, according to a consensus estimate of economist estimates compiled by Briefing.com.

Housing starts were expected to fall to 610,000 in December from a revised 651,000 in November.

Housing permits in December were 50.6% below the year-earlier rate of 1,111,000, and housing starts were down 45% from 1,000,000.

We're already seeing this in some of the housing markets that were severely overheated during the boom:

At some point the increase in the inventory level will cause prices to come down so dramatically that bargain hunters will sneak in and start buying up excess supply, Newport said.

As the usual broken record goes. The final tidbit of this article is GOOD NEWS for housing, definitely BAD NEWS short term on some real estate and construction related jobs:

For all of 2008, the report estimates 892,500 housing units obtained building permits, which was 36.2% below the 2007 figure of 1,398,400. Meanwhile, the government estimated that 904,300 housing units were started in 2008, which is 33.3% lower than the 1,355,000 units started in 2007.

The sooner we move this inventory, the sooner housing begins to stabilize. Until then, more grim reports will follow.

Housing Starts and Permits Fall to Record Lows

From CNNMoney.com - "Housing permits, starts hit record lows":

Housing permits and starts fell to record lows in November, the government said Tuesday, in the latest sign that the housing market is continuing its decline.

Housing permits fell more than 15% to an annual rate of 616,000 last month, the Commerce Department said, while starts slid nearly 19% to an annual rate of 625,000.

Ugly but ....

"Arguably, these dismal numbers are what we need to see to get housing inventories back in line with the reduced level of demand out there," said Larson.

Again, as we written in previous posts, none of these numbers bode well for Real Estate related jobs of present. However, as Larson states at the end of the article, we want the housing start numbers to be low. Less homes, less inventory, equals less problems with the housing market.

Housing Starts and Building Permits Drop to Record Low

As reported on CNNMoney.com - "Housing starts, permits at record lows":

Housing starts and permits, both of them key measurements of home construction, hit record lows in October, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

Housing starts reached an annual rate of 791,000 last month, the lowest level since the department began tracking starts in 1959. The rate tumbled 4.5% from the revised reading of 828,000 in September.

Building permits fell 12% to an annual rate of 708,000 in October, breaking the previous low of 709,000 in March 1975. The annual rate for September was revised to 805,000.

What was expected?

Building permits were expected to fall to an annual rate of 772,000 in October, according to a consensus of economist opinions from Briefing.com. An annual rate of 780,000 housing starts was expected for October.

Any of this beginning to sound like a broken record? As we suggested in last months housing starts and building permits report (Housing Starts / Building Permits Drop to Levels Not Seen Since January, 1991), the numbers remain atrocious but the bright spot remains that this trend will ultimately lead to shrinking inventory levels. Simple supply and demand. Lower inventory levels equal a happier housing market for everyone except buyers looking for a blockbuster deal. Until then, construction related jobs will remain under pressure.