During the broader economic recovery in the US, the housing market has not been contributing much; however, new data appears to show that residential real estate is on its way back. In September, single-family home starts hit their highest levels for over two years, as did used home sales. This is the first time since mid-2010 that the residential real estate market is showing such positive signs and with QE3 recently rolled out by the Fed, there may be more affordable mortgages on the market too.
Investors looking to buy property for sale will certainly find good deals available, as in many states there are considerable inventories waiting. Data from the last few months, however, seems to show that a corner has been turned.
Jim O'Sullivan, chief US economist for High Frequency Economics, which provides daily data analysis and assessments of the global economy, said that the market "is clearly in recovery mood". Starts, which track construction and are thus a forward indicator of recovery, went up in August by an annualized rate of 750,000. This compares to 733,000 in June, which is a figure that had been revised down.
The indication is that starts are up by 29% year-over-year, and Barclays believe this gives additional evidence that US housing markets are in broad recovery. In particular, single-family homes were driving the growth. They were up 535,000 over July, which is a 5.5% rise. Investing in residential real estate at this time could turn out to be investments with significant future returns.
