Three years after the recession came to an end and as the U.S. economy has been signs of being on a path to recovery, the housing sector still lags behind. This week will be big for housing data as a slew of different data points will be released. Home builder sentiment, existing home sales and new home sales are some of the highlights that will be released later this week.
Housing data has been a bit better over the past few months but analysts are ready to see some marked improvement. Everything for a housing turnaround appears to be in place with mortgage rates at all time lows and and improving jobs market.
There are still obstacles for the housing sector though. While the unemployment rate has dropped to 8.3%, it remains high for people between 20 and 24 at 14%. This age bracket is where many young people would begin to think about buying their first home. Loans are also hard to get as banks are reluctant to lend money out as they continue to deal with a large number of foreclosures.
A quick look at housing number estimates show that analysts expect this month to be better than the previous. Housing starts are expected to come in at 708,000, up from 699,000 the month before. Existing home sales are expected to be at 4.6 million, slightly higher than the 4.57 the previous month. And finally new home sales are expected to increase to 330,000.
Overall economic growth will also have an impact on the recovery of the housing industry. If economic growth slows, the housing industry will take even longer to recover. Analysts are hoping for faster economic growth to get the housing industry back to its former glory sooner.
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