Housing Starts Surge, Mortgage Rates Plummet, New Home Permits on the Rise…
Could this be the beginning of the end? It’s too early to start touting a recovery at this point, but it’s nice to see some good news for a change!
We started off the week with the news about housing starts. According to an article on CNN.com’s Money web site, while economists were expecting a further decline in the number of housing starts, a government issued report on Tuesday, March 17th 2009, indicated a massive surge of 22% over January’s numbers. This is especially staggering given that this index has been in decline for the last 8 months. In addition, new building permit applications were up 3% according to the same article.
Also this week, the national average rate for 30 year fixed mortgages fell to 4.9% on Thursday, March 19th 2009, according to HSH Associates, a firm which has been tracking daily rates since 1979. This is the lowest rate ever recorded in their 30 year history.
