The Wall Street Journal article, “The Door is Now Open to Home Builders” in Monday’s Money & Investing section reported several positive gains in residential construction First, shares of home builders have more than tripled since 2009. Shares of KB Home surged last Friday when the company reported an unexpected quarterly profit. Furthermore, Lennar Corp’s share price broke above $37 Friday for the first time since June 2007. Yesterday, Lennar announced earnings of 40 cents a share for the period ending in August, up sharply from 11 cents a year ago.
When home prices started to increase in the Spring and other housing indicators turned positive, the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index lagged behind. However, the Index released today showed average home prices increased by 1.5% for the 10-City Composite and by 1.6% for the 20-City Composite in July versus June 2012. For the third consecutive month, all 20 cities and both Composites recorded positive monthly changes. Locally, after nine consecutive months of double digit annual declines, Atlanta finally improved to a -9.9% annual rate in July 2012.
Finally housing starts rose in August to the highest annual rate since April 2010 when the market saw an artifical recovery with the first time homebuyer tax credit. For more information about homeownership or real estate investment in Atlanta call Jim LaVallee at 404-847-9080 or write Jim@EpicDevelopment.com. View all the details of our current listings here. For more information about commercial real estate operations or investment visit EpiCity.com.