believe that the number is accurate...
without distinguishing single homes from multi-unit apartments.
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First, The Charts:
the 1st two are simple charts by Daniel@Atlantic.
they show U.S. his point - we are wallowing
the 2nd two are from Sold@PaperEconomy
they also show U.S. permits & starts
but with a lot more detail & info
The last is from FinFact in Ireland
but, unlike Daniel & Sold they also separate one units from more
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Next the conflict that they all ignore.
What everyone must know by now, apartments are extremely volatile.
Including them WITH singe unit starts is VERY misleading.
For example, with foreclosures still running high, there are huge numbers of vacant home, and REOs for sale.
Apartments however are seeing very low vacancy rates, and much higher rents.
Therefore, a reduction in new homes makes sense.
As would a huge increase in apartment & condo construction.
BUT, and it is a very large but, there is very little financing available for that.
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Finally, the industry reports:
Both the HousingWire and the newly re-titled Worldpropertychannel
use the same heading to report the same Census report info
But, the HW does not separate out "apartments", at all.
WPC does, but fails to tell U.S. how much that changed.
Given the volatility that both know exists, this is misleading reporting.
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Post-script:
The only news report that we have found anywhere that consistently separates and accurately reports multi-unit construction is Bloomberg.
This is what THEY tell U.S.:
Work on multifamily homes, such as townhouses and apartments, fell 24 percent to an annual rate of 129,000, the weakest so far this year.
and
Starts dropped by a 23 percent decrease in the South, the largest area.
All of the weakness in starts was due to the plunge in the South, reflecting flooding on the Mississippi River that continued into May
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We should NOT have to hunt down this vital piece of information.
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Housing starts fell 10.6% in April
Same title, different source and article:
http://www.housingwire.com/
version 2
http://www.worldpropertychannel.com/us-markets/residential-real-estate-1/new-home-construction-us-census-bureau-department-of-housing-and-urban-development-hud-new-housing-starts-homes-for-sale-building-permits-4302.php
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Housing Starts and Permits Show Construction Sagging
http://www.theatlantic.com/
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New Residential Construction Report: April 2011
http://paper-money.blogspot.
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US home construction fell in April
US manufacturing production dipped due to Japan's earthquake supply Disruption
http://www.finfacts.ie/
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Housing Starts in U.S. Unexpectedly Decline
on Southern Floods, Tornadoes
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-17/u-s-housing-starts-unexpectedly-declined-in-april-to-523-000-annual-pace.html
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