Housing Stats
January 15, 2010
The Housing Stats are In
As reported recently by the Institute for Supply Management the monthly index of manufacturing is on the rise. In November, the index was at 53.6 and by December, it has risen to 55.9. This was the fifth month in a row to see expansion and was the fastest pace of growth we have seen since April of 2006. Any reading above 50 signifies expansion.
Total construction fell 0.6% in November after dropping 0.5% in October as reported by the Commerce Department. This was much better than what economists had expected since they believed a decrease of .04% would occur.
Factory orders rose 1.1% in November reported by the Commerce Department, which is quite a bit more than economists had expected which was 0.5%. This marked the seventh gain in the last eight months, which follows a 0.6% increase in October alone.
The pending homes sales index an indicator that looks at the future based on signed contracts from the National Association of Realtors showed a decrease in November of 16%, which followed an increase of 3.7% in October. It is believed the decline seen in November was mainly due to the expiration of the tax credit for first time home buyers; however, this tax credit has been extended. The tax credit not only was extended for first time home buyers but also now includes move-up and repeat buyers.
Labor Department reports indicated no change in the unemployment rate in December, which is holding steady at 10%. However, employers cut 85,000 jobs. November payrolls showed that 4,000 jobs were gained which is the first gain seen since December of 2007.
Wholesalers increased their inventories by 1.5% in November as reported by the Commerce Department which was the largest gain seen since October 2004. Economists were wrong again since they had anticipated a drop of 0.2%. Sales at the wholesale level rose 3.3% in November, which was the eighth monthly gain in a row and the largest increase seen since January of 2008.
Indicators are looking good for the most part across the board with some areas of the country reporting better percentages in various areas including housing developments.
One Comment to Housing Stats
Comments
Factory orders are still on the rise. That seems to be a good sign overall.
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