US housing market showing unexpected strength
Have we hit the bottom? Feels like it, activity has definitely picked up in the past 30 days for me:
Sales of newly built family homes rose 4.8 per cent last month to 1.1m for the year amid signs that housebuilders were beginning to clear excess inventory that has weighed down the construction sector.
The backlog of new homes standing empty fell to its lowest level since the start of last year – with enough supply to meet about 6 months worth of demand, the Commerce Department said.
The drop in excess inventory was seen by some economists as a sign the market had bottomed, while figures for the full year revealed the extent of the slowdown in 2006 as sales of new homes were 17 per cent lower than the previous year.
