Looking at the U.S. housing market, it appears that while homebuilding saw an uptick, things aren’t quite as optimistic within the market as a whole.
Looking at November statistics on housing, a troubling trend threatens to hurt both the housing market and the greater economy due to weaknesses that could grow more consequential. The construction of multi-family housing projects are up, but single family house construction is down to a one and a half year low. The National Association of Homebuilders sentiment index that was released Monday indicated a drop in optimism for the past two months. This is a drop in consumer optimism is measured through analysis of the market, and this most recent two-month decline may be a bad sign for the economy in general. It is the largest two-month decline since 2001, and the second largest decline since the Association’s formation in 1985. This, along with the expected interest rate hike expected to be announced by the Federal Reserve, could mean trouble for the economy.
The housing market collapse of 2008 was one of the main factors of the subsequent recession, and thousands of Americans went belly up in their homes and were forced to abandon them. Many are wary of troublesome signs of another such recession.
