Key government housing metrics continue to show year-over-year declines. Housing starts fell 11.2% in May, according to the Commerce Department, while permits declined 3.8%. These numbers strongly imply there will be a fall back toward 1.22 million housing completions on an annualized basis in the coming months.
Ultimately the housing shortage is not going to ease any time soon; the speculative real estate community is not producing a sufficient number of units to meet demand. With U.S. housing completions running roughly 250,000 units short for a number of years now, the failure to meet demand for new housing will promulgate the affordability issue plaguing the nation.
