Housing Starts and Building Permits for April 2007
	DATE	CURRENT		LAST	% Change	Download Starts and Permits
Starts	5/16/2007	1.528M		1.491 M	+ 2.5%
Permits	5/16/2007	1.429M		1.569 M	- 8.9%

Read additional information and download data (Excel) for Housing Starts & Permits.

Housing markets with the biggest booms in 2004 and 2005 will generally be the slowest to return to normal levels of activity and those that showed more restraint will be the first to get back on track, according to the 2007-2008 Metro Starts Forecast for single-family production released by HousingEconomics.com.

The major exception is the Midwest, the hardest-hit region of the country where some key markets that have been languishing because of weak local economies aren’t likely to see brighter horizons until next year as job and income growth gradually improve.

The report notes that the correction that started last year has affected different markets to different degrees, “but even markets with few signs of over-heating during the boom have slowed considerably.”

“Nationally, the pace of housing starts in the first quarter of 2007 was down more than 30% from its peak in the third quarter of 2005,” the housing analysts say in an overview of their state and metro area housing starts forecast. “In local markets, half of the 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas that NAHB forecasts were down between 15% and 40% from their 2005 level of production, while some of the most severely affected markets were down 50% or more from their 2005 highs.”

Nationally, NAHB is forecasting almost 1.13 million single-family housing starts in 2007, a 34% decline from a peak of almost 1.72 million in 2005, and 1.19 million in 2008, down 31%.

Double-digit rates of house price appreciation in 2004 and 2005 on the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's House Price Index (HPI) “clearly indicate markets out of balance,” the report notes. Metro areas with prices climbing the fastest between the fourth quarter of 2003 and the same period of 2005 include: Naples, Fla. (70.5%); Bakersfield, Calif. (70.3%); Palm Beach, Fla., (67.4%); Cape Coral, Fla. (66.4%); and Phoenix (63.5%).

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For the full report, including downloadable Excel tables of total single-family and multifamily housing starts by regions and states,  click here. (Available for HousingEconomics subscribers only )

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Visit www.HousingEconomics.com to get the data you need to anticipate the trends, make better decisions, and improve your bottom line. HousingEconomics.com, the online publication from the NAHB Economics Group is your single source for market analysis, forecasts, housing statistics, and more. 

Housing Market Statistics
Name	Current		Previous
Housing Starts (5/16)	1.518 M		1.506 M
Building Permits (5/16)	1.544 M		1.532 M
HMI  (5/15)	30		33
New Sales (4/25)	858 M		836 M
Existing Sales (4/24)	6.120 M		6.680 M
30-yr Fixed (4/12)	6.15 %		6.16%
1-yr ARM (4/12)	5.48 %		5.42%
Home Prices (4/25)	NEW-March
	254.0Th		251.8 Th
Home Prices (4/24)	Existing-February
	217.0Th		213.6 Th

= Available for HousingEconomics.com subscribers

Housing Market Statistics
Discover all of the key data and primary indicators for the housing industry in one easy-to-navigate location. Full Sample
Housing Starts (PDF & PowerPoint)	HMI Index  (Web page & PowerPoint)
Rental Vacancy Rates  (Excel & PowerPoint)	Inventory of New Homes (Excel & PowerPoint)
Download All the Housing Market Statistics Housing Market Statistics offers 36 different tables, downloadable either as Excel or PDF files (updated weekly). Access to this key housing data is available only to HousingEconomics.com subscribers.  Sample

Greenhouse gases are chemicals that, when released into the atmosphere, have the potential to cause global warming. Global warming has received a lot of attention lately. Part of this attention has fallen upon the housing sector and the role it plays in generating greenhouse gases.
 
The largest components of greenhouse gases generated by human activity over the course of a year result from energy that is produced and consumed. Because of this, the Energy Policy Act of 1992 assigned much of the responsibility for tracking greenhouse gas emissions to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the statistical agency housed inside the U.S. Department of Energy.
 
This article summarizes information from standard EIA reports on greenhouse gases. The article also analyzes data compiled by EIA on household energy consumption, in order to better understand the role housing—in particular new housing—plays in emitting greenhouse gases. The topics covered include the relationship between greenhouse gases and residential energy use, the distinction between annual energy use and “life cycle assessments,” the relative impacts of new and older homes, and the role household behavior plays independent of the characteristics of the house itself.
 
Conclusions drawn include the following:
•  The amount of greenhouse gases emitted from a residential structure during a typical year of its life is primarily a function of how much energy it consumes.
•  Residential energy consumption is the result of many factors, particularly how it is constructed and how it is used.
•   New homes only account for a small share of the total housing inventory, and  likewise a small share of annual energy consumption.
• Production and transmission of the electricity for homes constitutes a significant portion of residential greenhouse gas emissions.
•  Household behavior, such has how long lights are left on, may have as great an impact on residential electricity consumption as the number of built-in appliances or other amenities provided by home builders.

Read the full report.

Building Permits and Employment data by State and Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), are available for download (Excel tables).

Also available for HousingEconomics.com subscribers:

• Annual Population by Metro Areas (1980-2005)   

• Annual Building Permit Numbers for Metropolitan Statistical Areas (1981-2006)   - Recently Updated!

• Annual Employment Numbers for Metropolitan Statistical Areas (1990-2005) 

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Mark your calendar for all of  the housing industry key data and primary indicators for May-June 2007.

Print here the schedule of release dates for economic indicators. (PDF)

2007 release date calendar (Excel)

Look ahead with the Home Builders Forecasts by region and type such as:

• State and Metro Forecasts — Includes Starts Forecast, Excel tables of Total, Single-Family, and Multifamily Housing Starts by Regions, States, and the Top 100 Metropolitan areas (Free Preview).

• Executive-Level Forecast — Monthly forecast of economic activity, inflation, interest rates, and housing activity; the Executive-level forecasts contain an executive summary, in-depth detail, and historical data with annual and quarterly forecasts for all indicators (Sample).

Whether you advise, consult or work specifically on improving your own company’s profitability, you can rely on the premier data source for the U.S. housing industry, HousingEconomics.com.

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