Federally sponsored lender Fannie Mae is predicting housing starts to triple by 2013 to 1.5 million starts, returning the industry to 2007 levels, about 30% below the 2006 housing-start peak of 2.2 million starts. According to the agency’s economic outlook, housing starts are predicted to increase 17.3% and hit 710,000 this year, well below 1991's housing-start nadir. Another 47% increase to 1.1 million starts in 2012 starts to look like the beginning of the 1992 recovery, and another gain of 42% in 2013 would bring the market to nearly 1.5 million -- around the market level of 1997 to 1999. (More at LoanRateUpdate.com . . . )
Fannie Mae: Housing Starts to Triple by 2013
Steep growth over three years would return housing to 1998 market levels
February 23, 2011