With the exception of Ca and NV the housing market is getting much better. However, all real estate is local. That means the fact that my retail lumber customers business in the Minneapolis/St Paul area that has seen a 35% increaase over last Oct. has nothing to do with Stockton, Ca. Also, same thing(big increases) in Houston and San Antonio. There are more moderate increase in business in the rest of the country.
Home starts and permits are increasing. It is a fact. We went from a low in 2008 of 460,000 starts up to 800,000. We will hit 1 million by the end of next year. Also, keep in mind we were at 2 million in 2005. We were over building back then. Most economists say we need to building 1.4 million homes a year just to keep up with population growth for a country of 300 million. We are seeing right now in NJ and NY why homes need to be replaced on average every 75 years. They burn down get flooded, etc.
“We are seeing right now in NJ and NY why homes need to be replaced on average every 75 years. They burn down get flooded, etc.”
Actually the census showed why homes in NY & NJ don’t need to be replaced at all; we both lost electoral votes as our “legal” population falls, and only give the illusion of being viable by importing masses of illegal aliens. In NJ our last Dem governor admitted that without illegal aliens NJ’s population would have fallen in real terms.
A lot (not all) of the homes recently lost in Hurricane Sandy were vacation homes (though many year-round homes have serious damage throughout the area).