Homebuilder Comments in August: Increased Incentives Helping Sales, "Construction cycle time has improved"

Homebuilder comments courtesy of Rick Palacios Jr., Director of Research at John Burns Real Estate Consulting (a must follow for housing on twitter!):

#Austin builder: “A lot of spec inventory to work through. August was a very poor month for sales across the board. Cancellations spiked from July and buyers showed no sense of urgency.”

#Baltimore builder: “Jumbo loan rates below 5% are helping buyers move forward in that segment.”

#Boise builder: “Construction cycle time has improved over the last 30 days.”

#Charlotte builder: “Sales were fairly strong in August. Increased incentives to help with closing costs and a buy down rate appear to be helping.”

#Cleveland builder: “Build cycle times have been improving over the last 4 or 5 months. Appointments have completely dropped off and traffic is very sparse at the models.”