Business Contact Surveys: Construction and Real Estate
March 2012
Reports from both southeastern brokers and builders indicated sales growth improved again during January on a year-over-year basis. Nearly two-thirds of brokers reported sales gain, and more than two-thirds of builders also reported that sales were up slightly compared with a year earlier.
Both builders and brokers indicated that home inventories remained below the year earlier level in January. Most builders reported that new home inventories were unchanged from December to January. Broker reports indicated that home inventories continued to decline somewhat on a monthly basis.
Southeast broker reports indicated that downward home price pressure abated during January while most builders continued to report year-over-year declines. Among brokers, roughly one-third said that home prices were up year over year, one-third reported declines, and the remaining third indicated no change.
Southeast residential brokers indicated that buyer traffic improved in January. Two-thirds of the respondents reported that traffic in January exceeded the year earlier level.
The outlook among both builders and brokers continued to improve.
Southeast builders reported that construction activity continued to improve, as did their outlook for activity.
Note: The poll results are based on responses from 75 residential brokers and 34 builders. Responses were collected February 6–15.
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.