The U.S. Department of Commerce announced last week that sales of new one-family homes rose by 7.3 percent in the U.S. for the month of April.
At a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 323,000, the estimates are better than March, but still 23.1 percent below the April 2010 estimate of 420,000.
Purdue University economist Larry DeBoer said any indications of growth in the housing market are a good sign for the economy as a whole.
“The housing sector is in really terrible shape,” he said. “There are literally millions of homes unoccupied or owned by banks. They’re basically hanging over market looking for buyers.”
 |
The Midwest showed an overall 4.9 percent increase in sales since March. Though less than the 15.1 percent increase on the West Coast, DeBoer said that likely was because of the bulk of the 2000s housing boom taking place on the coasts.
“If we want the economy to recover, this is something that needs to happen” he said. “It’s a step on the road to recovery.”
Brian Smith, a superintendent for Oradat Builders Inc., 301 S. Norton St., said he thinks the housing market is starting to bounce back.
“We’ve had a couple new contracts and other possible contracts in the works,” he said. “Phones seem to be ringing a little more.”
Henry Olynger, owner of Olynger Management Corporation in Gas City, said although his business has largely gotten out of single-family lots, other lot sales have still been slower than the past.
“It’s hard for me to say there’s been an uptick,” he said. “I’ve seen some new home construction, but I haven’t seen any impact on our business.”
Revised GDP estimates also released last week registered 1.8 percent annualized growth, slightly less than the expected 2.2 percent.
DeBoer said GDP figures are directly related to job creation and these numbers were slightly disappointing.
“The rule of thumb is that the GDP needs to grow 2.5 to 3 percent to keep (job losses) from growing up,” he said. “We need more growth to keep a dent in that jobs figure. If we don’t get above 3 percent, the job situation probably won’t improve.”
Even with really rapid economic growth, the unemployment rate will likely only rise a half percent or so, DeBoer said. He also said despite this, recent payroll employment figures have been encouraging.
Through the economic downturn, Indiana has largely avoided the high and low extremes in economic indicators.
“You look at all the indicators and we seem to be in the middle,” DeBoer said. “We’re not a basket case like some of the others.”
Central Indiana manufacturing cities such as Kokomo, Anderson, New Castle and especially Elkhart were hit hardest between 2007 and 2009.
“Elkhart had unemployment around 20 percent, which is depression level,” DeBoer said.
Grant County unemployment dropped to 8.9 percent in April. The statewide average is 8.2 percent, less than the national average of 9 percent.
For Indiana and the nation, positive economic signs slightly edge out negative signs, but not by much.
“Slow and steady is the word for it,” Olynger said. “Hopefully, slow and steady wins the race.”
New national unemployment figures will be released Friday.
Copyright © 2026 Chronicle-Tribune