Home builders: Shovel-ready markets

The strongest markets for home builders include San Diego; Southern California; Texas’s Rio Grande Valley; St. George, Utah; and Orlando, according to a Metrostudy analysis and posted on the Wall Street Journal's blog.

A few key points from Metrostudy:

• San Diego: Construction began on 440 new homes there in the fourth quarter of 2011, a 46.7 percent increase over the previous quarter. San Diego also showed a 72.8 percent increase in absorption of new homes, meaning more houses are selling and supply is shrinking, making it a good market for builders.
• A few of the usual suspects are some of the worst new-home markets in the country, including exurban Central California (starts down 8.2 percent in the fourth quarter compared with the prior quarter) and Las Vegas (32.9 percent decrease) as demand continues to lag there and inventory remains roughly flat.
• Northern Virginia, which has stayed relatively strong during the housing downturn, is starting to falter. Metrostudy found that starts of single-family detached homes there fell 22.1% in the fourth quarter, and at year-end, home construction was down 14.7% annually. Fewer people are moving in as well, as absorption fell 10.9% in the quarter, and inventory rose 17.7%, the highest level of any market observed.

To read the blog, click here.