As we progress through one of the milder winters in history (so far, at least!) we continue to see signs of life within the housing market. Although the price of homes is continuing to be dragged down by the sale of foreclosed or distressed homes, the need for homes is starting to climb back. Within Wisconsin we see positive growth in multifamily and commercial projects, as well as more winter activity from our single-family builders.
Regionally, December housing starts rose 54.8 percent in the Midwest, following a decline in November. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is also happy to report an increase in nationwide production of new single-family homes for the third month in a row.
With those numbers, we’re starting to get a more complete picture of last year’s housing market compared to the year before. The total of housing starts for 2011 shows an increase of nearly 4 percent. The number of multifamily starts increased 54 percent from 2010. While single-family starts were down overall, we’re encouraged by improvement in the past few months.
The Random Lengths Oriented Strand Board Composite is inching up, and the latest report shows pricing nearly the same as this time last year. In the North Central region, prices of 7/16” OSB are also edging upward.
Many of us are preparing for expos and other association events across Wisconsin. Keep an eye on the Wisconsin Building Supply Facebook page to find out where we’ll be. And as always, we’d like to stay up-to-date on your projects and community involvement, so let us know how you’re doing!
