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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (496705)	11/21/2003 12:48:13 PM
From: JakeStraw	Respond to of 769670

Red-hot housing sector warms up U.S. economy By Jeannine Aversa, Associated Press November 20, 2003 WASHINGTON - Residential construction nationwide in October reached the highest level of activity in 17 years, a fresh sign that the red-hot housing market is helping stoke the economy's recovery. The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that builders broke ground on 1.96 million units, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, representing a 2.9 percent increase from September's pace. The level of activity in October marked the strongest monthly performance since January 1986 and left economists marveling at the strength of the housing sector, which has hummed along throughout the economy's slump as low mortgage rates have beckoned buyers. Economists were predicting residential construction would fall in October to a rate of about 1.85 million units. "U.S. housing starts blew away estimates," said Sherry Cooper, chief economist at BMO Nesbitt Burns. "The economy is looking . . . steamy." October's vigor came from new single-family home projects, which clocked in at a record-high pace of 1.62 million units, a 5.7 percent increase from September. Construction of apartments, condos and other multifamily housing declined by 3 percent in October to a rate of 319,000 units. The Denver area, suffering from huge job losses and a lack of demand, isn't participating in the national residential building boom. Through September, single-family permits were down 9.2 percent, condominium and town home permits were down 14.4 percent and apartment permits fell by almost 58 percent. Roger Reinhardt, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Denver, which released the September permits report last week, said low mortgage rates are the only reason why building activity is soaring nationally. "Probably a lot of builders are trying to build houses in markets that are still relatively strong and get the sales before rates rise," Reinhardt said. Jeff Whiton, president of Lennar/ U.S. Home in Colorado, said the local market is near the bottom and starting to recover, but builders remain cautious. "What we're seeing is builders are being very restrictive on starts and inventory," Whiton said. "We're still seeing sales, but builders are offering very strong incentives on inventory they do have. They want to clean up their balance sheets by the end of the year." By region, total housing construction jumped in the West by 17.7 percent from September to October to an annual rate of 526,000, the highest level since December 1986. rockymountainnews.com