The Commerce Department said Tuesday that builders began work on a seasonally adjusted 629,000 homes last month, a 14.6 percent increase from May.
Still, that’s roughly half the 1.2 million homes per year that economists say must be built to sustain a healthy housing market. Jennifer Lee, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, called the gains “just a blip in the overall flat-lining trend of homebuilding activity.”
“We have to see a rebound in job creation to sustain a recovery in housing,” she said.
Much of the increase in June came from a surge in apartment construction, a volatile part of the industry. That sector jumped more than 30 percent last month.
Renting has become a preferred option for many Americans who lost their jobs during the recession and were forced to leave their rapidly depreciating homes. Since 1992, apartments have typically made up just 20 percent of home construction.
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The state government has released a further 27 lots for residential development at Perry Lakes.
Planning Minister John Day today said LandCorp was seeking expressions of interest for the lots, which could offer a diversity of dwelling possibilities.
“The lots on offer will allow the development of up to 180 residences,” he said.
“A number of the lots available in the EOI embrace an expanding demographic by providing for over 55s through dwellings with specific design requirements.
“The development embraces the site’s history while delivering an abundance of open space and a strong connection to the adjacent Perry Lakes Reserve.”
The land release follows the release of 13 lots in February, after an auction in December.
While down from a year ago, the median sales price of $162,000 was up 5.4 percent from May, suggesting a mix of more expensive properties.
May had seen a slight dip from April. The Sarasota-Bradenton market hit a post-recession low of $136,300 in January.
Like its neighboring market, prices in the Charlotte County-North Port market rose 1.2 percent from May to June. The median price was $101,700 last month, according to data released by Florida Realtors.
A total of 1,379 homes changed hands in Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties during June, a 9.5 percent decline from a year ago when contracts that had been written during buyers’ rush to qualify for federal tax incentives were still affecting sales.
The credit triggered a huge amount of buying in spring 2010 that pulled forward some sales that would likely have happened later in the year.
The Sarasota-Bradenton market saw 973 sales in June compared with 1,068 a year ago while Charlotte County-North Port’s sales dropped 12 percent to 275 from 311.
Statewide, 17,597 homes were sold last month, an increase of 4 percent, while the median price fell 2 percent from a year ago. But
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Next year we will be shopping for a house in the $150,000-to-$200,000 range and hope to have $20,000 to $30,000 saved for a down payment. We have about $75,000 in student loans we are paying down. Would it be better to eliminate, say, one $3,000 student loan early or keep the $3,000 for a bigger down payment?
Answer: Eliminating such a small loan is unlikely to have a big effect on the size of the mortgage you’ll get, so you’re probably better off boosting your savings for your down payment. Don’t forget to save a bit extra so you have enough cash to cover closing costs and the inevitable repairs and maintenance required with homeownership.
The phrase “Greater Depression” was coined by Doug Casey a decade or so back, as a way of describing the economic crisis he foresaw as inevitable, and which is now materializing.
Doug Casey now believes that the unfolding crisis is going to be even worse than he first imagined, and the longer the rest of us at Casey Research study the tea leaves, it is hard to disagree that the Greater Depression is still ahead.
Consider:
- The eurozone is growing increasingly desperate. Watching the heads of Europe dither and debate over further bailouts to the unhappy Greeks and other troubled PIIGS – before ultimately reaching back into the pockets of the equally unhappy citizens in Germany and the decreasing number of still-functioning economies in the eurozone – reminds me of a down-on-his-luck blackjack player. He’
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