No one disputes that the housing market has been suffering a sharp correction, but the jury’s out on when the recovery will commence.
For those who lean toward the idea that it’ll arrive sooner rather than later, today’s report on April housing starts offers a statistical club to beat back the pessimists. Privately-owned housing starts rose by 2.5% last month over the March tally, based on seasonally adjusted annual rates. As our chart below shows, that puts April’s annualized total at 1.528 million units–the highest since December.
No one will confuse the rebound (if we can call it that) with a new bull market in housing. At least not yet. The wounds still smart from the fallout of the former decline, which cut starts by nearly 40% in 12 months from January 2006’s peak to the trough a year later. But by 2007’s reduced standards, this year’s looking up…so far.