D.R. Horton, the largest U.S. builder by revenue, rose 0.8 percent to $19.54 at the close of trading in in New York, as 10 of the 11 companies in an index of builders rose. The gauge has slumped 20 percent from a May peak after the Federal Reserve signaled it could start curbing stimulus measures.
HUD Counseling
HUD counseling for homeowners with payment difficulties won’t be directly affected by the shutdown, said Tom LaFleur, executive director of Pacific Community Services Inc., a government-approved counseling center in Pittsburg, California.
“Most HUD counseling agencies were grossly underfunded already,” LaFleur said in a telephone interview. “We got a $14,000 grant for a program that needed about $80,000. That’s typical.”
Funding won’t stop at federal construction projects, such as courthouses, military facilities, dams and levees, according to Brian Turmail, a spokesman for the Association of General Contractors of America, a trade organization based in Arlington, Virginia. Delays may occur if contractors can’t get answers for unforeseen questions or change orders in a project, and new contracts won’t be awarded, he said.
Not Fans
“We’re not huge fans of Obamacare, but we want to see the federal government proceed,” Turmail said.
A bigger concern for the economy than the shutdown would be Congress’s inability to raise the debt ceiling by Oct. 17, which could lead to a default on U.S. debt obligations. Mortgage rates would probably rise sharply, making homes unaffordable for many buyers, according to Stuart Gabriel, director of the Ziman Center for Real Estate at the University of California, Los Angeles.
“All bets are off and the downside economic impact will be grave,” Gabriel said in a telephone interview. “All aspects of the debt markets would be adversely affected. It would have serious and egregious effects on the U.S. economy.”