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The National Association of Home Builders saw good news in this week's report from the U.S. Census Bureau on housing starts.
The report showed that U.S. housing production was up 2.3% in August 2012, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 750,000 units. The growth was attributed to gains in single-family homes, with the pace of new construction up in every region for a combined 5.5% gain to 535,000 units.
In fact, single-family housing production hit its fastest seasonally adjusted annual pace in more than two years in August 2012. Meanwhile, multifamily housing production declined 4.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 215,000 units.
"Builders across the country have been reporting noticeable improvement in the number of serious buyers who are in the market for a new home, and today's report shows that this is translating to some welcome gains in construction activity," said Barry Rutenberg, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Gainesville, Fla. "While there is still plenty of room for improvement, it's encouraging to see this continuing trend that is spurring much-needed job growth."
Rutenberg noted that, for every 100 new single-family homes that are built, 300 new jobs are created.
"The pace of overall housing production has been edging gradually upward all year as consumers become more confident in their local housing markets, and the latest data are further evidence that the housing recovery is here to stay," added NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. "That said, the pace of this recovery continues to be constrained by various hurdles, including a tough lending environment, inaccurate appraisals and more recently, rising prices on key building materials."
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