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Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud Behind It ‚Äö?Ñ?Æ and Challenges Remain08-14-09 | News

Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud Behind It ?EUR??,,????'??+ and Challenges Remain

Clearly the financial markets and the various financial institutions that lend to businesses and consumers are on the mend. Nonetheless, they are often reticent to lend. ?EUR??,,????'??? Courtesy of www.li-edu.com/photography

Lest the prospect of less pain lull us into a sense of complacency, it is worth noting that even as things improve (or, more properly, deteriorate more slowly) concerns remain, especially for housing.

Even as builders of single-family houses have made some progress against the strong headwinds of stringent loan conditions, multifamily builders have found it more and more difficult to find financing. As a result, multifamily housing starts have slowed to a snail?EUR??,,????'???s pace.

Multifamily starts varied roughly between 325,000 and 350,000 from 1996 through 2006 on an annual basis. Quarterly averages have fluctuated over a wider range during this same period ?EUR??,,????'??+ between 290,000 and 390,000.

However, in the last three quarters, multifamily starts have fallen below 200,000. In the second quarter of this year, they fell to 118,000, the lowest quarter on record since the Census Bureau started collecting these data in 1959. No significant improvement for the multifamily sector is on the horizon. ?EUR??,,????'??? Courtesy of NAHB