TD forecasts housing uptick will last

All things housing appeared on the upswing this month, according to a recent report from TD Bank.

Ahead of the government report on existing home sales due later this week, TD Bank reported annualized housing starts at 917,000 in February, up from an annualized number of 910,000 in January.

“The increase in starts was spread across both single-family and multifamily units, posting gains of 0.5 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively,” TD reported.

The bank also looked at housing permits nationally. Those numbers increased 4.6 percent in February from the previous month, potentially sending annualized home construction to the 946,000 level.

“The bounce back in housing starts in February was fully expected given the disappointing release last month,” TD reported. “We continue to expect gradual improvements in starts over the coming months, before picking up in the second half of the year as a result of strengthening demand and continued momentum in the labor market. By year end, we anticipate construction in new homes to ring in around 1.06 million annualized units.”

There is a positive domino effect, according to TD: “The ongoing rise in housing construction has finally started adding to job growth. Since the beginning of the year, construction payrolls have added a whopping 73,000 jobs (nationally). In fact, the 48,000 construction jobs added this month was the largest monthly gain since March 2007. As the housing recovery continues to gain momentum over the coming months, we expect this upward trend in construction payrolls to continue.”

TD Bank is based in New Jersey and Maine, with offices in New York and Connecticut, plus Florida to Maine.