News from the U.S. Census Bureau that October new residential construction fell to a six month low put intense pressure on CME lumber futures. Near term January lumber futures closed down $9/m and March fell $8/m. Inventory is slim at all levels of the supply chain, and demand for the available building materials is sparse. In our area, Georgia has lost about 310,000 jobs since September 2007, and projects to lose a total of 135,900 jobs this year and 35,000 next year. Unemployment in Georgia has reached 10.2%. Building permits in the Atlanta - Athens area are off about 97% from 2005. According to Rajeev Dhawan, director of the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University, permits will drop about 70% this year from 2008. Mortgage applications fell last week, with the index of home purchase applications sinking over 4%to the lowest level since November of 1997.
No comments:
Post a Comment