Housing Still Hurting.

A 2 day FOMC meeting starts today.  Policy will be released tomorrow and attention will focus on indication as to when the Fed will start raising short-term rates.

 
ICSC-Goldman Store Sales (week ended 12/13/2014)

 

– Store Sales week/week +3.0%. Previous was -1.5%
– Store Sales year/year +1.1%. Previous was +2.9%

 

Redbook Store Sales (week ended 12/13/2014)

– Store Sales year/year  4.2%. Previous was +3.9%.

 

Housing Starts (November 2014)

– Starts seasonally adjusted, annualized  1,028,000. Previous was 1,045,000
– Permits seasonally adjusted, annualized 1,035,000. Previous was 1,092,000

Single-family Starts in November were at an annual rate of 677,000.

Housing suffers from the lack of affordability. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area local government agencies make construction difficult.  This restraint on supply makes prices higher and homes less affordable.

 

PMI Manufacturing Index Flash (December 2014)

– Index level 53.7. Previous was 54.7.