The housing sector is the backbone for any economy, and US is no exception. The US housing has been climbing up fast till 2006 and US economy was then at the pink of health.
But the housing sector started falling down from 2007 and it lead the US into deep sub-prime crisis from 2007 end onwards. The housing sector is the best employment generator and it also leads to lot of demand generation for core industries like cement, steel, furniture, electrical items etc.,
The US housing sector has been showing negative growth of over 15% ever since 2008 beginning, and the steep decline is still continuing.
The September 2009 month has seen a whopping 28% drop in the housing starts number versus a year ago figure. That is indeed a sharp drop, and the high level of unemployment coupled with uncertain economic environment is forcing people to postpone or defer their home buying plans.
The government has already done the best possible through a two pronged strategy. First it has brought down the mortgage rates to multi-year lows, which are below 5% now. The second thing that the Obama administration has done is to give a 10% cash rebate (subject to a maximum of $8000) for all the first time home buyers till 30th November 2009.
US housing starts in September 2009 down by 28%
October - 20 - 2009 - Tuesday
