STORM TO HIKE HOME PRICES BUILDING MATERIAL SHORTAGE LOOMING.Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Staff Writer Rebuilding the devastated dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. Gulf Coast will result in shortages of construction materials nationwide, making it more expensive to build in markets like California and pushing up housing prices across the state, the National Association of Realtors The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is made up of residential and commercial realtors who are brokers, salespeople, property managers, appraisers, and counselors, and others working in the real estate industry. said Tuesday. But providing housing for Hurricane Katrina's evacuees Resident or transient persons who have been ordered or authorized to move by competent authorities, and whose movement and accommodation are planned, organized and controlled by such authorities. coupled with low interest rates will ease the disaster's economic blow. The biggest impact on the housing market will occur in states adjacent to the disaster area but it will also ripple throughout the nation. Meanwhile, the unemployment spike caused by the hurricane will slow economic growth. ``By 2006 the rebuilding activity will be well under way and that will put additional price pressure on many areas of the country,'' said Lawrence Yun, the national association's senior economist. Officials estimate that 200,000 homes in the disaster area, including 80 percent of the houses in New Orleans New Orleans (ôr`lēənz –lənz, ôrlēnz`), city (2006 pop. 187,525), coextensive with Orleans parish, SE La., between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, 107 mi (172 km) by water from the river mouth; founded , have been lost. This will increase demand, and prices, for building materials Building materials used in the construction industry to create . These categories of materials and products are used by and construction project managers to specify the materials and methods used for . . ``In supply constrained areas like Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, it will be even more acute in terms of building new homes.'' That's because many of the state's cities have tough zoning laws and high permit fees. Yun said that the materials shortage will push up new home prices, which in turn will increase spillover spill·o·ver n. 1. The act or an instance of spilling over. 2. An amount or quantity spilled over. 3. A side effect arising from or as if from an unpredicted source: onto the existing home market. He also anticipates that mortgage interest rates will rise more slowly as a result of post-storm economic conditions to accommodate the losses of homes, jobs and businesses. The national group now expects the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage to reach 5.9 percent in the fourth quarter, and 6.7 percent by the end of 2006. The national group now expects sales of previously owned home to increase increase 3.4 percent to 7.02 million this year, while new-home sales are forecast to rise 6.7 percent to 1.28 million this year - both would be records. Last month, the totals were projected to be 6.98 million and 1.26 million, respectively. The California Association of Realtors also anticipates record sales this year, and prices have been on a record run for months. The impact of Katrina here is still hard to measure on sales and prices, said Leslie Appleton-Young, the association's vice president and chief economist The Chief Economist is a single position job class having primary responsibility for the development, coordination, and production of economic and financial analysis. It is distinguished from the other economist positions by the broader scope of responsibility encompassing the . But home building will take a hit. ``I think they (builders) will definitely struggle over the availability of building materials, which we have been feeling anyway over the last year with the expansion in China, so this will add to that,'' she said of the rebuilding effort. Gregory J. Wilcox, (818) 713-3743 greg.wilcox(at)dailynews.com |
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