Home Builders stats counter pervasive speculation on the economy

Sources: Allen-Villere Partners, New Orleans; CP staff

A National Association of Home Builders analysis of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Census Bureau data contrasts with widely subscribed pessimism on the economy and outlook for construction. In his latest dispatch for Concrete Products, construction materials management consultant Pierre Villere weighs NAHB estimates—tracking market activity through August and indicating single-family home sales up 18 percent year over year—against a prevailing, ‘sky is falling’ mood.