Builders looking to cash in on homebuyer tax credit?
New housing stats rose 21 percent in January from a year ago, the Census Bureau said today, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 591,000.
That’s up from a record low pace of 479,000 units per year seen in April, but still well off the 1 million to 2 million-a-year range that’s been the norm for five decades. During the last boom, housing starts peaked at 2.07 million in 2005.
Single-family home stats were up 36 percent from a year ago, to a seasonally adjusted rate of 484,000 per year.
Single-family home starts, which typically exceed 1 million a year when the economy is not in a recession, hit an all-time high of 1.72 million in 2005 before plunging to 445,000 last year.
Analysts said builders may be putting up homes on “spec” to beat the expiration of a federal homebuyer tax credit, currently limited to homes under contract by April 30 and closing by June 30.
