Home Builder Economic Forecast given at International Builder Show

I am sorry for all of you reading this in Michigan right now. I am currently At the International Builders Show™ in sunny Orlando, Florida. It is a little cool right now because it is in the 60’s. Don’t worry, I’ll do my best to cope. Yesterday we were given the 2008 housing outlook according to the NAHB (National Association of Home Builders) economists. Their news agreed with what I posted a few weeks ago regarding the fact we seem to be moving more homes and with the slow down in building, inventory is reducing. It was nice to hear the validation in the numbers that we are seeing locally. They also gave a report regarding the foreclosure rate and what the numbers realyy mean. I will go into more detail on this next week. They are very optimistic about the outcome the home building industry for the next two years. I am going to try and get permission to post part of the report up to show what they had put together. It is a pay service, so I cannot guarantee anything. If you want to try and find it you can go to www.nahb.com and look for it. I am moderating two Meet the Expert courses at the builders show so I have posted some of the forms that Forsberg Real Estate uses in its day to day operations that I am going to be talking about in Florida. These are mainly Goal Setting and Agent Training forms, but are located on the right side of the screen if you are interested in looking through them. Have a great day.

Housing starts at 25 year low Good for Lansing

As housing starts continue to drop, some people might argue that this is further news of the real estate market falling off. Here is a link to the article at yahoo; http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080117/economy.html This is simple supply and demand. We built a few to many houses in the U.S. over the last few years, and simple economics states that as demand fell off, prices are going to fall, and production will slow. This should mean that we will finally see some of the market inventory start to reduce. We have seen a steady increase in inventory over the last few years in Lansing. This should be the year where we see that number stabilize and start to decrease.
What this area needs is job creation. We have seen some positive signs of growth with the revitalization of the downtown buildings and several of the companies in the area growing employees. The West side GM and Grand River Plant are producing award winning vehicles and our housing starts are at a 25 year low. This is a good formula for the Greater Lansing Real Estate Market. We already are the strongest economic region in Michigan based on unemployment. We should look forward to a stabilization of our real estate market over the next 12 to 14 months.
Also congratulations to Coldwell Banker Hubbell and Briarwood Realty for the Merger. Both Bob Hubbell and Bill Mcleod are great businessmen and I am sure that the combining of these companies will be great for our community. They both have exciting projects going on around town with the Stadium District, Point West, and many other new construction communities. I hope the merger goes smoothly and the combined company has continued success.