New home sales over the past six weeks were reportedly stable--but at low levels--and down on a year-over-year basis. Looking forward, most residential contractors expect activity in 2007 will be similar to the second half of 2006 and don't foresee an uptick until late 2007 at the earliest. Even though real estate markets show rising inventories, prices and sales activity of existing homes continues to hold up across several District markets. New home prices continue to be relatively high when compared to existing homes. Material costs are holding steady for the most part with a majority of contacts reporting a decline in lumber prices.
Activity among the District's commercial contractors has been steady since mid February and increasing on a year-over-year basis. Segments showing strong activity include health care, public works, and manufacturing. Backlogs are stable to increasing. All contractors reported moderate price increases for building materials-especially steel; however, most builders held their prices steady. On net, there has been a slight increase in employment levels over the past six weeks due to increased demand
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