Housing Market Steady as Ever in Birmingham

Sales of new homes and Alabama home loan in metropolitan Birmingham rose in February from the previous month, continuing to buck a national trend.

The Greater Birmingham Association of Home Builders says its members sold 384 new homes last month, compared to 367 in January. That’s a 4.6 percent increase.

February’s area new home sales, as compiled by the Rudolph/Brander Monthly Birmingham Area Real Estate Report, were down from the 423 sold in February 2006.

Still, the local builders association said it was pleased that February’s figure outpaced January’s number, considering the turmoil in the home mortgage and housing markets nationally.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported this week that sales of new single-family homes across the nation fell 3.9 percent in February to the slowest pace in nearly seven years.

The decline doused hopes that a rebound was in the making for the nation’s housing market, even as mortgage rates remain near historic lows.

Garth Day, director of the Greater Birmingham Association of Home Builders, said it is not surprising to see the metro area real estate market holding up while many other cities across the country are experiencing declines in new and existing homes sales.

“Despite the slowdown in the national housing industry over the last year and a half, home sales have continued to be strong in Birmingham month after month,” Day said. “We expect that to continue - in fact Birmingham is poised for a very good year in home sales.”

Day points to Alabama’s strong economy and unemployment rates at historic lows as reasons the Birmingham housing market should remain robust.

Sales of new and existing homes are monitored as a key economic indicator, and combined with low Alabama mortgage costs, the area continues to thrive as other overvalued markets falter.

SOURCE: Birmingham News