States That Won’t Buy New Homes

[caption id="attachment_2595" align="alignleft" width="373" caption="States That Aren't Buying New Homes"][/caption]

With the economy being where it is today, the chances of someone buying a new home seems like a lost cause. Why pay so much money for a new home when you could rent for an easier, more realistic price? 24/7 Wall St investigated the decline in the housing market a little further, examining which states will not buy new homes:

There is a strong indication that home builders have almost ceased activity in several states as demand for newly built homes has dwindled. The slowdown in new home permits is particularly stark when compared to the total number of existing homes in each state. 24/7 Wall St. examined the number of building permits to find the states where no one wants to buy a new home.

Building permits are among the carefully watched statistics issues by the real estate industry each month. Permits are needed in most jurisdictions before individuals or contractor can begin physical work. Therefore, they are a reasonable indicator of future home construction. The data on permits is issued by the Commerce Department.

Building permit activity has fallen in most months since the 2007 housing crash — one that continues today. In the first half of 2005, slightly over one million permits were issued. By contrast, the number was the just below 300,000 for the first six months of this year. The decline in new permits in some states is over 80% for the same period.

Building permits are not enough in and of themselves to demonstrate a slowdown. Their size in relation to the total existing homes is also an indication of the state of the housing market. Consider that in a large state like California, across all towns and cities, just over 20,000 permits were issued during the first six months of this year. The number of permits may seem like a lot for a weak housing market, but is negligible when compared to the 13.6 million existing homes in the state.

Read more at Yahoo Finance