Private Construction Spending declines in June = Q2 2010: Homeownership Rate Lowest Since 1999

[mEDITate-OR:

shrink back into the hole you dug, for your economic foundation...

While it tis too easy to be pessimistic...

tis very difficult to BE a pessimist.

We - you, me and U.S. - want, badly the news to be good.

Butt, and this is no joke, it is not good.

For obvious political reasons, the Senate will NOT do what we need to do and have done for U.S.

We cannot cut taxes more, without increasing the deficit.

We cannot even leave W's cuts in place, without increasing the deficit.

IF we continue to cut local, state & Federal jobs, the economy will simply get worse.

What we DO need is a larger, more targeted "jobs program".

And, finally, to do as China is doing to U.S.

- actually HAVE a national "industrial policy".

Aimed @ the creation of skilled, technical jobs.

We are, literally, being thrown out of

our jobs AND our homes.

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Overall construction spending increased slightly in June, and private construction spending, both residential and non-residential, decreased in June.

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The homeownership rate declined to 66.9%. This is the lowest level since 1999. 
Note: graph starts at 60% to better show the change.

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The homeowner vacancy rate declined to 2.5% in Q2 2010.

A normal rate for recent years appears to be about 1.7%
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The rental vacancy rate was steady at 10.6% in Q2 2010.
It's hard to define a "normal" rental vacancy rate based on the historical series, but we can probably expect the rate to trend back towards 8%. According to the Census Bureau there are close to 41 million rental units in the U.S. If the rental vacancy rate declined from 10.6% to 8%, then 2.6% X 41 million units or 1.07 million excess units would have to be absorbed.
This suggests there are still about 1.6 million excess housing units. These excess units will keep pressure on housing starts, rents and house prices for some time.
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Private Construction Spending declines in June
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2010/08/private-construction-spending-declines.html
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Q2 2010: Homeownership Rate Lowest Since 1999
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2010/07/q2-2010-homeownership-rate-lowest-since.html
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