The U.S. Commerce Department’s latest report on housing starts shows the number of new homes under construction increased by 10% in January to an annual rate of 1.33 million. According to MarketWatch, housing starts are now at the second highest level since the recession following the financial crisis. Bloomberg reports that the only region to suffer a setback in beginning construction last month was the Midwest, which was impacted by severe winter weather.
The good news here is that more new home construction leads to a greater supply of properties and increased options for home buyers. That helps keep housing shortages, prices and interest rates in check. Stable interest rates are key to maintaining real estate market momentum. So this big picture trend is a positive on the local level.
That’s why the January Housing Starts report has National Association of Realtors’ Chief Economist, Laurence Yun doing a happy dance expressing optimism. “Terrific news on housing starts in January with a solid 10% gain. This rise in single-family housing construction will help tame home price growth, and the increase in multifamily units should continue to help slow rent growth… Ultimately, there is still large room for improvement given the fact overall housing inventory is currently near historic lows.”
Yun says this boost in housing supply helps the economy and also may help the Federal Reserve temper the pace of future short-term rate hikes. “That’s because the slow upward creep in the broad consumer price inflation is principally being driven by rising housing costs. Simply put, more housing supply means a lower inflation rate, and potentially a slower pace of interest rate increases by the Fed.”
Here in the Barrington area, the number of active new construction listings in January, 2018 was 42. That’s down -26.3% from the 57 Barrington area new construction homes for sale in January of 2017. We’ll continue to follow these numbers to keep you up to date with a local snapshot based on national trends over time.
Interested in new construction available today in Barrington? Here’s a closer look at the options currently on the market…
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Do you have specific questions about Barrington real estate, homes for sale or property values in your neighborhood? Would you like to know more details about how things look in the different villages that make up zip code 60010? Email RealEstate@365Barrington.com or fill out the form below and we’ll follow up with more information within 24 hours.
In the meantime, stay tuned for more local real estate market updates here at 365Barrington.com, published since 2010 by local REALTOR, Liz Luby of The Luby Group with @properties.
