Market Insights

Sales of new single-family houses in November 2010 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 290,000, according to estimates released jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development -- a 5.5% increase over October.

However, the figure is 21.2% below the same month last year.

The Department of Commerce's residential construction report released today shows both total starts and single-family starts for March are up over February, but way down compared with March 2010.

March housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 549,000, up 7.2% from February, but down 13.4% from the same month last year.

Single-family starts were reported at a pace of 422,000, up 7.7% compared with February, but down 21.1% compared with March 2010.

The unemployment rate dipped from 9.0% in January to 8.9% in February, according to data released Friday morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Construction employment grew by 33,000 in February, following a decline of 22,000 in January that may have reflected severe winter weather, according to the bureau. Within construction, specialty trade contractors accounted for the bulk of the February job gain (+28,000).

Hardware store sales increased slightly in 2010, according to government data released Tuesday.  

The Census Bureau's Monthly & Annual Trade Report showed December sales for hardware stores -- NAICS code 44413 -- reached $1.684 billion in December, the most recent month of available data in this business classification. That unadjusted figure is up 4.5% from the unadjusted figure from December 2009.

For the full year, hardware stores sales were $18.756 billion, up 0.7% from 2009.

As a result of too much good material and not enough space, here is a collection of semi-random notes from the International Builders’ Show in Orlando, Fla.  


• Question: Does anybody really pay $99 a day for Internet connection — the asking price at the convention center? 


• I told my cab driver what I was doing in Orlando. 


“That’s funny,” he said. 


“Why?”


The National Association of Realtors (NAR) interpreted a rise in pending home sales as a sign of a gradual housing market recovery in 2011.

The NAR's Pending Home Sales Index rose 3.5% to 92.2 in November, compared to October. The index is down, however, from the reading of 97.0 in November of last year. 

Lawrence Yun, the group's chief economist, added that further economic gains are needed to realize a recovery.

While more than one-third of Americans are aware of the federal phaseout of incandescent light bulbs, the majority of consumers have yet to learn that the 100-watt bulb is scheduled to disappear from store shelves beginning in 2012. This is one of the many findings of an Osram Sylvania consumer survey involving 300 homeowners and renters nationwide.

“It is one of the most active lobbying efforts I have ever seen,” quipped Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, (D-Ill.) when asked about the fight over debit card swipe fees. And he’s been on Capitol Hill for 28 years.