VOA慢速英语20060922a

ECONOMICS REPORT - Housing Market Slows in U.S.By Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Friday, September 22, 2006

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

On Wednesday, the United States Federal Reserve chose to keep its target interest rate unchanged at five-point-two-five percent. The Federal Open Market Committee said a main reason for its decision was the slowing housing market.


A home being built in Pennsylvania

The housing industry is one of the most important parts of the United States economy. Economists¹ consider it an important sign of the country's economic health.

The number of new building permits for new private housing is one of the Leading Economic Indicators². The Conference Board, a major business group, publishes this measure to estimate the future direction of the economy.

The government says about one million seven hundred thousand building permits were given out in August. This is a two percent drop from July. But, it is a twenty-two percent drop from August of last year.

The National Association of Home Builders represents the home building industry. It estimates that the total number of new houses built will decrease by about twelve percent this year and next year.

As fewer new homes are being built, existing homes are going unsold for longer periods of time. The government reports that the number of existing homes remaining on the market has increased by almost forty percent in the last twelve months. At the same time, home ownership remains³ high at almost sixty-nine percent of American families.

The large supply of houses on the market has helped keep interest rates for home loans below six and one half percent. And average prices for new and existing homes have even dropped a little.

Home building is closely linked to many other parts of the economy. Home building affects labor⁴, manufacturing and the financial industries.

Businesses providing building materials are an example. Huge stores like Home Depot⁵ and Lowes depend on homebuilders and homeowners to buy tools, supplies and other goods. Ownership shares in these companies have dropped in value by more than ten percent this year.

Most experts expect declining home sales to slow the economy in the near future. They estimate economic growth in the second half of the year to be between two and three percent.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. Transcripts⁶ and archives are at www.unsv.com. I'm Mario Ritter.

1 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 indicators   

（仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号

参考例句：

• The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
• It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

5 depot   

n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站

参考例句：

• The depot is only a few blocks from here.公共汽车站离这儿只有几个街区。
• They leased the building as a depot.他们租用这栋大楼作仓库。

6 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句