Purchases of new homes rose 11% in June 2009, the biggest gain in eight years, underscoring evidence that the deepest housing slump since the Great Depression is starting to stabilize.
Sales rose to a 384,000 annual pace, higher than every forecast and the most since November 2008, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. The number of houses on the market dropped to the lowest level in more than a decade. Check to see Charlotte houses on the market and sort out the great values.
While this news means the drag on economic growth will turn to a stimulus in the second half of the year, property values are likely to continue falling nationally and rising unemployment will temper the general economic recovery. However, economists are now speculating that this new data means the pricing bottom is not far off, somewhere in the next three to six months. There is light at the end of the tunnel.
The Commerce Department earlier this month reported that builders began work on 582,000 residential properties at an annual rate in June, the most since November. Home construction has subtracted from U.S. gross domestic product every quarter since the start of 2006.
The jump in sales signals the U.S. economy is on the way to recovery. Across the board this is good news. It’s what you would expect to see at the beginning of a recovery.”