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QUOTE OF THE WEEK... "Every morning, I get up and look through the
'Forbes' list of the richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to
work." --Robert Orben, American professional comedy writer
INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE ... Plenty of home builders went to work last month, as Housing Starts shot up 6.6% in April to a 1.172 million unit annual rate. Some negative Nellies pointed out starts suffered a big decline in March, so April's number is still down 1.7% from a year ago. But that's actually all due to a slow-down in multi-family construction. Single-family starts are up 4.3% the past year. Likewise, new building permits for single-family units are up 8.4% versus a year ago, while overall permits were up 3.6% in April, to a 1.116 million annual rate. The experts say we need starts to get to 1.5 million units a year, so there's room for lots more recovery ahead.
There wasn't anything negative about the National Association of Realtors (NAR) report that Existing Home Sales rose in April for the second straight month, up 1.7%, to a 5.45 million unit annual rate, beating all forecasts. The NAR's chief economist sees momentum building for the spring housing market, noting "sales activity overall was at a healthy pace last month, as very low mortgage rates and modest seasonal inventory gains encouraged more households to search for and close on a home." But Freddie Mac's chief economist cautioned that mortgage rates could begin to change, given "the hawkish tone of Wednesday's Fed minutes release." Let's hope he's overreacting.
BUSINESS TIP OF THE WEEK... If networking events make you nervous, volunteer to lend a hand. When you have a role in the event, people talk to you, so you don't have to worry about how to break the ice.
INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE ... Plenty of home builders went to work last month, as Housing Starts shot up 6.6% in April to a 1.172 million unit annual rate. Some negative Nellies pointed out starts suffered a big decline in March, so April's number is still down 1.7% from a year ago. But that's actually all due to a slow-down in multi-family construction. Single-family starts are up 4.3% the past year. Likewise, new building permits for single-family units are up 8.4% versus a year ago, while overall permits were up 3.6% in April, to a 1.116 million annual rate. The experts say we need starts to get to 1.5 million units a year, so there's room for lots more recovery ahead.
There wasn't anything negative about the National Association of Realtors (NAR) report that Existing Home Sales rose in April for the second straight month, up 1.7%, to a 5.45 million unit annual rate, beating all forecasts. The NAR's chief economist sees momentum building for the spring housing market, noting "sales activity overall was at a healthy pace last month, as very low mortgage rates and modest seasonal inventory gains encouraged more households to search for and close on a home." But Freddie Mac's chief economist cautioned that mortgage rates could begin to change, given "the hawkish tone of Wednesday's Fed minutes release." Let's hope he's overreacting.
BUSINESS TIP OF THE WEEK... If networking events make you nervous, volunteer to lend a hand. When you have a role in the event, people talk to you, so you don't have to worry about how to break the ice.
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