Housing starts in the U.S. jumped more than forecast in June as better weather allowed the struggling industry to break ground on delayed projects.
Work began on 629,000 houses at an annual pace, up 15 percent from May and the highest level in five months, figures from the Commerce Department showed Tuesday in Washington. The level topped the most optimistic forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 71 economists. Building permits, a sign of future construction, unexpectedly climbed 2.5 percent.
“A lot of this was due to some catch-up in activity that didn’t occur in April and May,” said Paul Dales, a senior economist at Capital Economics Ltd. in Toronto, who had the highest forecast in the Bloomberg survey.
Read more…
While towns and cities across Connecticut stand to lose state programs and facilities as part of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget-cutting plan, few are expected suffer as much Enfield, where the courthouse, a prison and the local Department of Motor Vehicles office are slated to close. Residents and business owners say they think Enfield is paying more than its share to cover state budget cuts.
Home sales in South Florida continued along their record-setting pace in June, as prices rose in some sectors of the market and fell in others.
In Miami-Dade County, resales of single-family homes reached 923, up 35 percent from June 2010 and up 5.5 percent from May, according to data released Wednesday by the Florida Association of Realtors. Condo sales equaled 1,136, up 54 percent from June 2010 and down slightly from May.
Real estate agents sold 1,274 single-family homes in Broward County in June, a 6 percent increase from the year before. Month-over-month, the sales increase was 11.6 percent. In the condo market, Broward saw year-over-year sales increase 7 percent to 1,511. Compared to May, sales slipped 1.7 percent.
Prices showed strong gains in Broward compared to last year, while Miami-Dade saw declines continue.
Read more…
A former Enfield resident was arrested earlier this week after allegedly breaking into the Ed Sullivan Theater in midtown Manhattan, where David Letterman tapes his late night talk show, police said Thursday. James Whittemore, 22, of Manhattan was arrested Sunday in the lobby of the theater, located on Broadway between 53rd and 54th streets, shortly after 7 a.m., said New York Police Det. Brian Sessa.
Sales of homes in some stage of foreclosure declined across South Florida during the first quarter, a result of the recent “robo signer” controversy and perhaps a changing sentiment among buyers, observers say.
Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties posted 8,878 foreclosure sales in January, February and March down 11 percent from the fourth quarter and 20 percent from a year ago, according to RealtyTrac Inc., an Irvine, Calif.-based foreclosure listing firm.
The robo signer furor led to foreclosure freezes last fall, and processing has only started to resume.
Another theory is that buyers aren’t as enamored of houses and condominiums that have been repossessed, are in default or scheduled for auction.
Buying those bargain-priced properties can take months.
Read more…