However, a big rebound is expected to be on the horizon in homebuilding. Housing starts are expected to return to normal levels by 2016, and with that prediction residential construction employment will likely rise to nearly 2.5 million jobs, according to Fannie Mae’s Housing Insights report, which looks at the historical relationship between housing starts and construction jobs.
According to Fannie’s forecast, residential construction employment will surge by 412,000 jobs between 2012 and 2016.
“This 20 percent rise in homebuilding employment will nearly triple the forecasted pace of total job growth during this time period,” HousingWire reports.
Despite the expected surge in homebuilding jobs, Fannie says that the increase still will not reflect all the homebuilding jobs that had been lost during the housing crisis. By 2016, the number of residential construction jobs is forecasted to be nearly 1 million below the peaks reached during the housing boom.
More home owners are seeing equity once again in their homes, as prices rise. The number of mortgages with negative equity dropped to 18 percent of homes with a mortgage in January, down from 41 percent one year earlier.
Source: “Housing Crash Fades as Defaults Decline to 2007 Levels,” Bloomberg (May 6, 2013)