Perhaps homebuilders are rushing to finish a few more houses before the tax credit expires…
The U.S. Census Bureau reports:
HOUSING STARTS
Privately-owned housing starts in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 591,000. This is 2.8 percent (±11.5%)* above the revised December estimate of 575,000 and is 21.1 percent (±12.3%) above the January 2009 rate of 488,000.
Single-family housing starts in January were at a rate of 484,000; this is 1.5 percent (±11.3%)* above the revised December figure of 477,000. The January rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 100,000.
(note that large plus/minus)
The Mortgage Bankers Association released their Weekly Survey:
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending February 12, 2010. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 2.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 0.5 percent compared with the previous week.The Refinance Index decreased 1.2 percent from the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 4.0 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 1.0 percent compared with the previous week and was 18.4 percent lower than the same week one year ago.
