Housing On The Rise

April Home Prices Climb
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas increased 0.7% in April 2011 from the month before, the first increase in eight months, although still down 4% from April 2010. Six of the 20 areas fell to new index lows in April 2011 (Charlotte, Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas, Miami, and Tampa), one other recorded a loss, and 13 showed improvement. Much of the improvement reflects the beginning of the Spring-Summer home buying season, but it is too early to tell if this is a turning point or simply due to warmer weather. Washington DC remained the city with the biggest increase, up 3.0%, while Detroit suffered the biggest loss, down 2.9%.

Building Permits
The US Commerce Department reported that privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 612,000, up 8.7% above the revised April rate of 563,000 and 5.2% above the May 2010 estimate of 582,000.

Housing Starts
The US Commerce Department reported that privately-owned housing starts in May 2011 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 560,000, 3.5% increase over the revised April estimate of 541,000, but still 3.4% below the May 2010 rate of 580,000. The Department noted single-family housing starts in May were at a rate of 419,000, a 3.7% gain above the revised April figure of 404,000.