Housing Demand Starts To Pick Up

From the global financial crisis last 2007 that sent house prices plunging to what seemed like a bottomless trench, the housing market now seems to be showing good and progressive signs of recovery. According to the Census Bureau, there has been a significant increase in housing starts and building permits last June, compared to previous months and year.

Data gathered from the census show that housing starts increased by 6.9% in June to 760,000 – the highest number in four years and 23.6% greater than last year’s record. On the other hand, total permits to build new houses was around 755,000, 19.3% higher than the recorded figures last year for the same month. 

According to Glenn Kelman, the founder of discount broker Redfin, demand for new houses has been steadily increasing. “Homebuyers are like a herd of hungry goats right now, going from hillside to hillside looking for something to eat,” Kelman said. “There’s not enough inventory to go around.” He said families and households looking for houses wanted only clean, ready-to-move-in homes which are scarce since most of these homes are occupied. The owners of these homes are not willing to sell their houses at current market prices, therfore, house hunters have to settle with building their own homes to get what they want.

According to Nevada Credit Union Leagues chief economist Dwight Johnston, this huge demand has initiated the construction of some long-delayed projects. “Within a 20-mile radius of Claremont, there were three big developments that had been dormant for years and they started building on them again,” he said. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has reported that builder confidence has been on its highest level in five years. It’s chairman said that confidence has strengthened in every region of the country and even future sales projections are looking good.