More housing data tomorrow: Will the numbers be as positive as Tuesday’s were (at least on the surface)?

We’re half way—but only half way—through the week’s housing numbers.

So far the headline numbers have been good—although digging deeper takes much of the gloss off the data.

On Tuesday, September 21, new home starts came in solidly above expectations. Building permits climbed from their record low. New home starts came in at an annual rate of 598,000. That was a 10.5% increase from July’s 541,000 rate. According to Briefing.com, economists had been expecting a very slight increase in new home starts to 550,000.

Building permits, traditionally seen as an indicator of future housing activity (since you can’t start building a house without a permit), climbed to 569,000. Economists had forecast a 560,000 rate. That was again a solid improvement from July when permits hit a record low of 559,000.

But you need to keep this news in context: Yes, it’s a big jump from July’s terrible numbers, but year to year, comparing August 2010 to 2009, the numbers actually show how anemic the recovery in the housing market is. Housing starts climbed just 2.2% from August in 2009. Building permits actually dropped by 6.7%.

Investors will get more housing market data on Thursday, September 23, with the release of existing home sales for August. Read more

Behind the bad news in housing sales is there even worse news?

Bad numbers on existing home sales this morning. But is the reason behind the numbers even scarier than the numbers themselves?

The numbers, mind you, were bad enough. Existing home sales fell 2.7% in August. The drop comes after four consecutive months of increasing sales. And after a jump in sales of 7.2% in July economists had expected August numbers to continue the upward trend.

So why the drop? Read more