2014 Shows First Major Gain in 7 Years

When the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) announces statistics regarding overall housing starts in the national real estate market, they are talking about both single-family home starts and multi-family homes which can include apartments, condos, townhomes, etc.  The overall housing starts in the United States total for 2014 hit 1.089 million which was the highest housing starts have been in 7 years (since 2007) with single-family home starts rounding out at 728,000 for 2014 which was a 7.2% increase.

Economists not just from the NAHB or the National Association of Realtors (NAR) are projecting the real estateLot 350, The Sanctuary, Front Exterior market to continue to grow back towards normal starts and home sales numbers throughout both 2015 and 2016.  They expect the market to have a 90% recovery from the crash nationwide by the end of 2016.  The reason for this is because of the growth of the economy which saw a 4% growth in 2014 and the positive job forecast which in actuality continues to be higher in job growth each month than the projections.  Job growth will eventually “trickle down” to college graduates who, during the Recession, were not able to go out and “get a job” once they graduated.  The job market should expand to allow these young professionals to embark upon their career path thus creating new households across the U.S. that had, up until this point, been living either with relatives or roommates to save money.
With a booming economy, lower unemployment rates, and higher housing starts and sales, the NAHB has every reason to believe in their projections for the real estate industry in 2015.

  • 2015 Projected Housing Starts: 804,000 (a 26% increase from 2014)
  • 2015 Projected Multi-Family Housing Starts: 358,000 (a 2% increase from 2014)
  • 2015 Projected Residential Remodeling Activity: 3% Gain Overall from 2014

In 2014, total single-family home sales were at 564,000 which is an almost 30% increase from 2013’s home sales.  Locally, in St. Tammany Parish, Ron Lee Homes has personally experienced a huge jump in interested and custom home sales for our new homes.  We managed to stay moderately busy during the Recession, but with builder optimism on the rise, unemployment numbers dropping locally in the Greater New Orleans area, and interest rates once again dipping lower than 4%, the volume of calls and e-mails has enabled us to grow our team and our services.

We have added several staff members including Cheryl Murphy, formally with Floor to Ceiling.  She is handling the renovation and remodeling section of our company and can make recommendations for, design plans, for, and handle project management for the following types of renovations and remodels: kitchen, bath, mother-in-law suite, apartment-over-the-garage, home additions, expansions, and much more.

So, if you are in the market for a new custom home or a complete renovation or remodeling job, Contact Ron Lee Homes in St. Tammany Parish at 985-626-7619 or E-mail Info@RonLeeHomes.com.

Click Here and Here for the Sources of the Statistical Information.