Business Contact Surveys: Construction and Real Estate
April 2013
Southeast residential brokers and builders reported that sales remained ahead of the year-earlier level in March. Reports from brokers were more positive than builders' reports.
Both builders and brokers indicated that home inventories continued to decline on a year-over-year basis in the Southeast. Reports of declining inventories from brokers were widespread.
Both builders and brokers continued to indicate home price appreciation in March.
Most residential brokers and builders in the region indicated that buyer traffic was ahead of the year-earlier level in March.
The outlook among brokers and builders over the next several months remained positive, but builder expectations for sales growth waned somewhat in March.
Most Southeast builders reported that construction activity was ahead of year-earlier levels in March, but they indicated that year-over-year growth had weakened notably from February.
Note: The poll results are based on responses from 56 residential brokers and 29 builders. Responses were collected April 1–10, 2013.
The housing survey's diffusion indexes are calculated as the percentage of total respondents reporting increases minus the percentage reporting declines. Positive values in the index indicate increased activity; negative values indicate decreased activity.