There was an unexpected rise in new housing construction in February— fueled by an 82% jump in the construction of new apartment buildings. We suppose people have to live somewhere, right? [MarketWatch]
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More like, they're building apartment buildings to give the people who are losing their houses somewhere to live.
@ BeerManMike the 82% was apartments, it was only up 22% over all. Seems like the $8000 would actually help some people buy existing houses, causing them not to need apartments, thus keeping the total % down.
@BeerManMike: As long as you recognize that there were a lot more than 100 houses built in January.... the new seasonally adjusted prognosis is 500k+ houses per year, based on Feb. data.
And Burgandy is correct, it's $8,000. And that's if you've not owned a house in at least three years. It's not a land grab, put away your tinfoil hat.
@acknight:
Ah but if you are buying in California it is in fact $18,000. Up to $8,000 in federal and up to $10,000 in state tax credits = $18,000
@jharrell: Sure. State credits is a different and much more widely varying measure.
The only "universal" figure for first time buyers is $8,000 via Federal return credit, any house purchased in 2009 for a first time buyer.
A much smaller number of house purchasers are getting $18,000 from taxpayers. And then, the difference from federal is coming from the state's taxpayers.
So all those apartments that they converted into condos during the boom that are now sitting empty, there was a need for them? Who would have thought?
@BeermanMike Not quite. The 22% increase means if 100 houses were built in January, 122 were built in February, not 22. Otherwise, a decrease would imply people were going around destroying existing homes.
I love how The Consumerist can find a dark spot in good economic news. "Derrr...I guess people have to live SOMEWHERE...derrr..." The pessimism on this site gets tiresome after a while.
This is great news for my family, as our income is dependent on construction.
If there were only 100 houses built in january and in february there was a 82% increase, that means there only was about 82 more houses built in feb... doesn't seem that much impressive now right?
Anyways, this is because of the $18,000 the tax payers are "giving" new/first time home buyers. Its also because the govt. wants people to move out of older houses in "odd" places and into "community" style houses. Its a land grab and population relocation scheme.