Realty Check
Current Housing Indicators |
| CURRENT | PREVIOUS | ||
| Existing Home Sales | 4.49m | ▼ | 4.74m |
| New Home Sales | 309,000 | ▼ | 344,000 |
| Housing Starts | 583,000 | ▲ | 477,000 |
| Building Permits | 547,000 | ▲ | 531,000 |
| HMI | 9 | UNCH | 9 |
| Existing Home Prices | $170,300 | ▼ (annually) | $199,800 |
| New Home Prices | $201,100 | ▼ (annually) | $232,400 |
More Videos
#DIANAOLICK ON TWITTER
- Robo-Deal Is All About Lowering Mortgage Principal
- As Mortgage Refinancings Surge, Banks Struggle
- Forty States Sign On to Foreclosure ‘Robo’ Settlement
- Running Robo-Settlement Numbers
- Own vs. Rent Riles Government Housing Policy
- Obama's Mortgage Refi Plan to Go Through FHA
- Housing Demand Defies Fundamentals
- US Treasury Forcing Mortgage Principal Forgiveness
- Robo-Reality: Final Foreclosures Fall as Pipeline Swells
- New Financial Crimes Unit Could Throw Wrench in ‘Robo’ Settlement
MOST SHARED
- Tesla Unveils First SUV: Model X
- Strip Greenspan of His Knighthood: SocGen Strategist
- Sony's Hirai to Extend PlayStation Strategy, Cut Costs
- India's Tata Steel Posts First Quarterly Loss in 2 Years
- China January Trade Surplus Soars as Imports Crumble
- Steelers' Antonio Brown Spends Super Bowl Week with Twitter Fan Turned BFF
- Top Five Mistakes to Avoid in Online Dating
- Jobs You Can Do Forever
- Zynga, Hasbro Partner to Make Toys, Games
- Warren Buffett: Stocks Will Outperform Gold and Bonds .. and They're Safer 'By Far'
- New York Fashion Week Hits the Runway as Colors Pop
- Mulling Buffett's Stock Advice? Get in With REITs: Fund Managers
- LinkedIn Earnings Bode Well for Hiring and Social Media
- Top Five Mistakes to Avoid in Online Dating
- Victor Cruz ‘Understands’ Gisele's Super Bowl Frustrations
- Tamminen: The United States of India
- Unusual Volume: Taleo Jumps After Oracle's $1.9 Billion Offer
- Warren Buffett: Stocks Will Outperform Gold and Bonds .. and They're Safer 'By Far'
- So Now You Can’t Give Microsoft Away?
- FTSE, DAX, CAC Seen Lower, Greek Deal Delayed
- The Secret Lives of Traders—Seeking the Next Hot Thing
- FBI Investigated Steve Jobs Drug Use
- Strip Greenspan of His Knighthood: SocGen Strategist
- China January Trade Surplus Soars as Imports Crumble
- Markets Finally Get Greek Deal —So Where's the Rally?
- Warren Buffett: Stocks Will Outperform Gold and Bonds
- Get All the Latest Out of Europe Here
- New iPad Next Month? Apple Nears $500
RSS FEED
Builders a "Buy" Despite Falling Starts
Text Size 
CNBC Real Estate Reporter
 |
Starts are down 6.2 percent and building permits (an indicator of future starts) are down nearly 9 percent. Sounds pretty bad, right? Not if you’re looking for a bottom in the new home market.
Inventory has been the crux of the problem in the new home market. Builders simply glutted the market with far too many homes during the housing boom, and with affordability out of whack, a major correction was inevitable. With starts and permits down well-below the million-unit mark, that could signal more health in the market.
“There's still a heavy overhang out there and the demand for new homes really hasn't stabilized yet,” says Dave Seiders, Chief Economist at the National Association of Home Builders. “So I view it as, actually believe it or not, as a positive development as helping us get to a point where we can eventually truly bottom out.”
 |
Stephen East of Pali Capital agrees, titling his blog today, “Ugly is Beautiful.”
As for the stocks, East writes: “We believe there is a real opportunity to make money going long the builders, and while we will have some type of correction that could be sharp, we now look at that as a buying opportunity—the first time in a long time we have felt that way.”
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
