according to MetroStudy we are on track for a modest gain in housing starts in 2012.
The latest data from the federal government suggested that starts were up in December (the level was up 4.1%, +/- 11.6%). The government data lacked some detail, of course. MetroStudy’s own new data show that starts rose in the fourth quarter of 2011 (versus the same quarter a year ago) in:
Washington DC
Raleigh, Austin
Salt Lake City
Chicago
and (North) Atlanta
…just to name a few of the major markets.
Starts in Coastal L.A. fell, but rose in the Inland Empire and San Diego.
The newest Metrostudy Market Sentiment Survey showed a substantial surge of optimism. The number of respondents indicating that conditions are “extremely poor” fell by HALF in a single quarter. This was accompanied by a surge in the middle of the ten-scale that we use in the survey. The reponses of “5″ and “6″ increased sharply, indicating a middling sentiment about the markets. Given where we’ve been, we’ll take it! There has been some increase in the high numbers as well, but the 8s, 9s, and 10s are still few and far between.
Traffic counts and traffic quality have both been improving, according to those responding to our Market Sentiment Survey. Our weekly traffic and contracts reports for selected markets also show some modest improvement in traffic in early 2012.
see Metrostudy’s full article here
According To Cole 