This month we asked our builder panel several special questions concerning home improvement construction activity:

Note: The black line represents National indicators with data through January 2011 while, the survey data is through February 2011.

According to D6 brokers, Southeast home sales rose slightly in March compared with a year earlier; half reported that sales increased.

Gains in Southeast home sales were largely driven by Florida broker reports.      

D6 builders indicated Southeast construction activity declined in March; two-thirds of builders reported declines.  

D6 brokers indicated more modest home price declines in March; In February most brokers reported that prices were down slightly but in March most reported that prices were flat to down slightly.   Nearly two-thirds of builders reported home price declines.

Southeast brokers continued to expect stronger home sales growth over the next several months while the outlook among builders was weaker.  

If you know of any residential brokers or home builders that would like to participate in our monthly survey, please direct them to our Contact Registration page:  http://www.frbatlanta.org/forms/business_contacts.cfm

Thank you.

Whitney M. Mancuso
Senior Economic Analyst
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
blackberry: 404-556-8757
office: 404-498-8917
fax: 404-498-8058
whitney.mancuso@atl.frb.org

Below are the latest results from the D6 Residential Real Estate Survey.  The survey was conducted March 7-16 reflecting activity in February 2011 and include responses from 90 Residential Brokers and 47 Home Builders.  

I would also like to recommend the following blog posts from the Atlanta FED:
3/22/11SouthPoint: Examining the presence of negative equity in the Southeast
3/22/11macroblog: The unemployment puzzle—or at least one of them

Also, later this week SouthPoint will feature a summary of the real estate survey results.

You may also find today's post from the NY FED's new blog of interest as well:
Liberty Street Economics: How Much Will the Rise in Commodity Prices Reduce Discretionary Income?

Note: The black line represents National indicators with data through January 2011 while, the survey data is through February 2011.

According to D6 brokers, home sales growth was similar to the year earlier level in February; the majority continued to report that sales were flat to slightly up on a year-over-year basis.

Reports from Florida brokers were unchanged in February; more than half continued to report year-over-year gains while half of brokers outside of Florida reported declines.      

D6 builders indicated construction activity remained weak in February but declines moderated while nationally single-family home starts weakened further.  

D6 contacts continued to report significant downward pressure from short-sales, REOs and pending foreclosures. Two-thirds of brokers reported annual home price declines in February compared with 63 percent in January.  

CoreLogic reported that January home prices including distressed home sales continue to weaken while the index excluding distressed homes improved.  

Despite the absence of a housing stimulus that was in play last year, the overall outlook among D6 brokers and builders improved in February.
 

Whitney M. Mancuso
Senior Economic Analyst
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
blackberry: 404-556-8757
office: 404-498-8917
fax: 404-498-8058
whitney.mancuso@atl.frb.org