April’s housing starts gain of 2.5%  beat economists’ expectations, possibly signaling a positive change of momentum for the housing market; and good news for both mortgage brokers, and mortgage bankers.  Lets look at the numbers to see what the have to say:

• The Commerce Department stated that housing starts hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.528 million in April.
• 1.490 million was the pace analysts were expecting.
• Housing starts in April were at the highest pace since December 2006, but down nearly 16% from a year ago.

Though this looks like good news, there was other numbers that show maybe all that much hasn’t changed.  For example:

• Building permits dropped in 8.9% in April.  These permits show future builing plans.
• April  pace was 1.429 million units. This represents the lowest pace since June 1997, when it stood at 1.402 million.
• The expectation was for a rate of 1.525 million permits.

Looking at these number it looks like a mixed bag for the housing, with more of the same to occur for the forseeable future.  We will continue to look for more information on what is happening in this industry.

In the mean time, as we have suggested before, mortage  brokers can apply for a mortgage broker bond that will allows them to expand their territory to help compensate for lost revenues.  Mortage bankers can do the same with a mortgage banker bond.  For general surety bond information, subscribe to our blog.