The US housing market entered another slowdown in the last week of March, ending the first quarter of 2019 with the US government reporting that building permits are dropping for two months already while recording the lowest decline in the last eight months.
Moreover, construction of homes is also dropping, while the same data implies that construction of new family homes hit its lowest rates for the period of the last 18 months, indicating that the housing market may be in trouble. Many analysts are referring that housing might as well be a bubble waiting to burst in the course of the next 12 to 18 months.
However, the latest data is implying that housing still has potential for growth despite the recent downfalls and the negative image of the US economy observed through the prism of the housing market.
Are Investors Worried About the US Housing Market?
As far as the housing market in the US concerned, the last week of March brought both good and bad news.
Good news is that the sales of homes in the US jumped by 11.8% during February 2019, however, the number of signed contracts fell by -1% during the period of a single months, while pending contracts for home sales also dropped by 4.9% for the same period of time.
Case-Shiller price index is showing that the prices of homes in the US have gained 4.3% year to date as recorded in January, however, this score actually represent the weakest increase since April 2015.
What is also good news when it comes to the state of the housing market with the beginning of Q2 2019, is the fact that many investors and people from the industry believe that the recent slowdown is actually a good thing, because the increasing prices in housing ask for more leverage, which can further bring troubles to the market.
