Market Update

QUOTE OF THE WEEK... "Fortune favors the audacious." --Desiderius Erasmus, Dutch scholar and social critic

INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE... Some might consider it audacious to say all is well on the homebuilding front following last week's reports. Housing Starts dipped 2.0% in January, to a 1.065 million annual rate, with a 6.7% reduction in single-family starts. Equally disturbing, Building Permits were off 0.7%, to a 1.053 million annual rate. But in the last twelve months, single-family starts are up 16.3%, and permits up 5.8%. The 12-month moving average for overall housing starts (single- and multi-family) is at its highest level since 2008. And total number of homes under construction was up 1.1% in January and up 17.5% over a year ago.

In line with this, the National Association of Home Builders confidence index slipped this month from 57 to 55. But it stayed above 50, meaning more builders felt conditions are good. Freddie Mac's U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook for February upped its mortgage originations forecast to $1.3 trillion. They pegged home sales at 5.6 million, starts at 1.18 million, and home prices up 3.9% for the year. The new CEO at Move Inc., which runs realtor.com, feels "...improved employment, rising GDP, easing mortgage restrictions and growth in housing starts are just a few of the trends creating meaningful tailwind for the market."

BUSINESS TIP OF THE WEEK... Don't be overwhelmed when you have lots of different tasks to do. Instead, departmentalize your week: perform different tasks on different days. This is an efficient way to organize your workflow.