Builder confidence slipped in September on worries about labor and materials availability. However, permits to build new homes jumped 5.7%, marking the second highest amount since 2007. More Americans can buy a home with unemployment at a 16-year low and households in the best financial shape in years. The building shift is to single-family homes from large apartments and condo complexes. Earlier in the recovery, builders focused more on multi-dwelling buildings with five units or more, properties most likely to be rented. Now single-family home construction is leading the way. Starts on single-family homes rose to an 851,000 annual rate, up 17% from a year ago.
Senate Republicans are considering writing a budget that would allow for up to $1.5 trillion in tax cuts over the next decade, said two people familiar with the discussions. Such a plan would assume that tax cuts would boost economic growth and generate revenue to help pay for themselves, but it would also likely mean that Republicans would need to make some of the tax cuts expire after 10 years, leaving decisions to a future Congress they may not control.
Serving the West Side first, I am Mike Elerath of BR Capital for 1360 KUIK.
