Business Contact Surveys: Construction and Real Estate
November 2011
Reports from southeastern brokers indicated sales growth improved modestly in September. Builders' reports indicated new home sales growth softened.
Both builders and brokers indicated that home inventories declined on a year-over-year basis in September.
More Southeast brokers and builders reported declining home prices in September than in August.
Southeast builders reported buyer traffic continued to slow in September on a year-over-year basis. Brokers noted a modest improvement.
The outlook for sales among builders was little changed in September, while the outlook among brokers slipped modestly.
Southeast builders reported that construction activity weakened and the outlook moderated as well.
Note: The poll results are based on responses from 70 residential brokers and 35 builders. Responses were collected October 3–13.
The housing survey's diffusion indexes are calculated as the percentage of total respondents reporting increases minus the percentage reporting declines. Positive values in the index indicate increased activity; negative values indicate decreased activity.