New Homes Construction Plummets in April
Bad jobu for the real estate markets and the economy at large:
Builders broke ground on 10.6 percent fewer new homes last month. The seasonally adjusted rate fell to 523,000 homes per year, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That’s less than half the 1.2 million homes per year that economists consider a sign of a healthy market.
The weak construction data show how builders are struggling to compete with millions of foreclosures, which are forcing down prices for previously occupied homes. The median price of a new home was about 34 percent higher in March than the median price for a re-sale. That’s more than twice the markup in healthy housing markets.