A recent report released by the U.S. Department of Commerce showed that housing starts and building permits rose to the highest they have been since last November.  This news comes a month after the housing report for July was released which announced that home sales rose 9.6%, which was the largest monthly increase in sales in the past four years.

While the report showed that construction starts of single family homes dropped 3%, it showed that multi-family homes rose 25.3% after coming off of an all time low a month before in July.  Total housing starts rose 1.5% and building permits rose 2.6%, although the majority of the rise in building permit applications were for two-family, three-family and four-family homes and larger buildings such as condominiums.

All of this information listed in the report released by the U.S. Department of Commerce was released one day after and corresponds along with the report released by the National Association of Home Builders who released a statement saying that its home builder confidence level rose for the third consecutive month in September to the highest it has been in 18 months.

So what does all of this mean for you as a home buyer? The large increase in building permit applications and large number of building permits that have already been issued to home builders will create a larger number of homes for those looking to purchase a house.  Because numbers rose so high in the area of multi-family homes it also mean that there are more condominiums being constructed.  With the rising numbers of people looking to buy new homes home builders are trying to create new affordable homes for the buyers.  Home builders are also hoping that the bill to extend the home buyer tax credit will pass.  In the case that the bill does pass it will more than likely mean that that there will be an even larger number of people in the market to purchase a home.  A larger number of people looking for homes also means a larger number of people who will be interested in purchasing a home that is newly constructed.

If you are interested in purchasing a home in the Staten Island area and need a lawyer to represent you contact Steven T. Decker.  Steven T. Decker is a real estate attorney in Staten Island and represent clients purchasing, selling and refinancing their homes in New York and New Jersey.  If you would like to speak with Steven T. Decker to discuss your purchase, sale or refinance of your home you can contact him at 718.979.4300.