|
The Wisconsin State Journal Property Trax column [The Wisconsin State Journal]
(Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, WI) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Feb. 14--Dane County housing starts increased a bit in January compared with a year ago, but last month's tally remained among the lowest historically in the past dozen years.
Only January 2009, when there were 22, and January 2011, when there were 31, were lower since 1999, according to records compiled by MTD Marketing Services of Menasha.
Last month, there were 33 permits for new single-family homes and duplexes, for a 6.5 percent year-over-year increase.
Housing starts have been historically low for the last six years.
In 2011, housing starts fell 3.1 percent compared with the previous year, to 591. That was the lowest annual total since at least 2000.
From 2001 to 2005, there were at least 2,300 housing starts in Dane County annually. The big drop started in 2006, as the housing crash started taking hold.
As things stand now, most in the industry believe new home building is unlikely to rebound strongly until the area's backlog of foreclosures drops significantly.
And not just new filings -- which slowed considerably last year, though they rose again in January -- but existing stock for sale and any that joins the pipeline as the Big 5 banks likely get back on track with foreclosure actions after the robo-signing scandal that in some ways was resolved by last week's settlement with the state Attorneys General.
(You can read more about that settlement's impact on Wisconsin here.)
Meanwhile, Dane County's ratio of foreclosures to housing starts in January was 2.36, which is better than the previous year -- when it was 2.95 -- due mostly to the drop in foreclosure filings over the past year.
But, even at 2.36, the measure means there were still more than two foreclosures for every housing start, a ratio that's quite high historically.
In 2000, for comparison's sake, there were just 306 foreclosures compared with 1,947 housing starts in Dane County, for a foreclosure to home start ratio of 0.16.
------
Remember you can follow Property Trax at www.facebook.com/propertytrax and on Twitter @proptrax. Click to "Like" the Facebook page and you'll get any blog updates posted there, plus links to additional real estate stories.
___
(c)2012 The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wis.)
Visit The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wis.) at www.wisconsinstatejournal.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
TMCnet LOGIN
Webinars
