Several troubling developments have slowed the country’s economic recovery over the past months–among them political  stalemates, continued high rates of unemployment, slow growth in the gross domestic product, large cuts in federal spending, weakening European economies, and hesitant lenders. All of these factors led NAHB economist David Crowe to revise his housing market predictions for the remainder of 2011 through 2012. “A convergence of worrisome developments has set back the outlook for housing and the economy,” states the report released via webcast in August by the NAHB.
According to Crowe, recent economic woes mean fewer housing starts. He reduced his estimation for 2011 starts by 6 percent from 615,000 to 580,000, while next year’s predicted starts drop 20 percent from 873,000 to 700,000. The data also asserts that boosting consumer and lender confidence could go a long way to help housing. NAHB CEO Jerry Howard used the opportunity to announce a new tool aimed at lifting those confidence levels. The Improving Market Index, premiering in September, will highlight local markets that are safe bets for both lenders and homeowners. Howard expects the index to help foster stability in those markets that eventually will spread to other areas by “showing that banks and regulators should make good loans to good people in the areas where it makes sense to do that.”
Click here to read the full NAHB report.
