Residential Real Estate Sector Back on Track to Recovery?

Single family homes lookin’ good…

Today, the U.S. Commerce Department released data showing that despite last month’s sharp drop of single family home starts, November 2009 enjoyed a 2.1% increase showing potential signs of recovery. What is most encouraging however is the 6% increase in building permits, the highest rate in the last year. Some industry insiders say that inventories have a deeper drop before any meaningful recovery can happen.

“The upward trend in homebuilding is encouraging, and the outlook for further growth is promising,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said. “With mortgage rates low, bank lending for residential mortgages becoming less restrictive, and the Recovery Act tax incentive for homebuyers extended and expanded, both home buyers and builders will continue to have attractive opportunities in the coming months.”

Of course all real estate is local, right? Not all signs point to poppin’ the bubbly. Mana Tulberg, Ventura County Realtor said that “the new housing starts in Ventura County appear to be lower than most of its neighboring counties. The newest communities in our county that were close to completion have been on pause for the past two years. As one drives through these communities, the evidence of once graded but now over-grown parcels is hard to miss. The developers who previously were able to finish whole development projects in 6 months are now taking that same amount of time to finish one or two homes.”

Multi family looks like a pig in a tutu

Lipstick on a pig has been overly abused so I’m going with pig in a tutu… Multi-family construction starts skyrocketed 67.3% but with vacancy rates and values being less than desireable, what’s 67% of desolation? Celebrating might be a little premature for this sector but at this point, any good news will do, right?

How is the construction of single family and multi family looking like in your market?