Positive, Positive, Positive
Tim McLaughlin
A host of positive news tidbits for the economy and the housing sector this week:
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Builders broke ground on more homes than forecast in January, helped by warmer weather and adding to signs the U.S. residential real estate market is stabilizing.
Starts rose 1.5% to a 699,000 annual rate from December’s 689,000 pace that was stronger than previously reported, Commerce Department figures showed Thursday in Washington. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey called for a rise to 675,000.
“The numbers are genuinely getting better,” said Brian Jones, senior U.S. economist at Societe Generale in New York, who projected a rate of 700,000 starts.
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Claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly dropped last week to the lowest level in 4 years, showing the job market is on the mend.
Applications for unemployment insurance payments decreased 13,000 in the week ended Feb. 11 to 348,000, less than the lowest forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News and the fewest since March 2008, Labor Department figures showed Thursday. The median survey estimate projected an increase to 365,000.
The slowdown in dismissals coincides with a pickup in hiring and a drop in unemployment that’s helping repair a labor market still recovering from the 18 month recession that ended in June 2009.
It’s good news for consumers, meaning stronger income growth and likely rising confidence that will support spending and housing.
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The share of homeowners behind on their mortgages fell to the lowest level in three years during 4Q11, offering the latest sign of how recent job market gains has helped heal the battered housing market, according to a report released Thursday.
The survey, released by the Mortgage Bankers Association, showed that 7.6% of residential mortgages were at least 30 days past due on their payments at the end of 2011. That was down from 8.3% one year earlier and from a peak of 10% in early 2010.
The better mortgage performance reflects a growing economy, but “mortgage performance is also improving faster than the overall economy,” said Jay Brinkmann, the MBA’s chief economist.
