Good Real Estate News

The Commerce Department reported today that single-family housing starts rose 5.5 percent to an annual rate of 535,000 homes, the best pace since April 2010. Apartment construction, which can be volatile from month to month, fell 4.9 percent.

The rate of home construction has improved almost 60% since hitting a recession low in April 2009. It’s still half the pace considered healthy.

In today’s struggling economy. Most economic reports show mixed results, today’s Commerce Department report is no exception. So, besides the good news on single-family home starts, this report also showed that applications for building permits, a good sign of future construction, fell to an annual rate of 803,000. Still, that’s down from a four-year high of 811,000 in July, which was revised higher.

Also today, in another report issued by the National Assn. of Realtors said sales of existing single-family homes, townhouses, condos and co-ops rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.82 million units in August, up from an annual rate of 4.47 million in July. The rate exceeded analysts’ expectations.                                                      Good Real Estate News