Posts with tag commerce department

WASHINGTON -- Homes were built in September at the fastest pace in 17 months, a hopeful sign for the economy. Most of the gain was driven by a surge in volatile apartment construction, which helps boost economic growth. But other data suggest a housing recovery is far off. Single-family home construction, which... Continue Reading »

WASHINGTON -- U.S. builders increased spending on homes, office buildings and other projects in August after a big decline in July. The gain still left the construction industry far below levels considered healthy. Construction spending rose 1.4 percent in August, the Commerce Department said Monday. The increase... Continue Reading »

Builders cut back on spending by the largest amount in six months in July with sharp reductions in outlays for government building projects. Construction spending fell 1.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $789.5 billion, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. That is 3.5 percent above an 11-year low... Continue Reading »

WASHINGTON -- Builders broke ground on more single-family homes and apartments in June, as the home-building industry tried to shake off a historically bad spring. The Commerce Department says builders began work on a seasonally adjusted 629,000 homes last month, a 14.6 percent increase from May. Still, that's roughly... Continue Reading »

Is the housing market experiencing a double dip? It depends who you ask. The latest data on home prices, including the influential Case-Shiller Index, indicates that values are falling again in almost every market across the nation. Then again, the Commerce Department recently reported that the sales of newly constructed... Continue Reading »