VOA标准英语2013--US Housing Prices, And Confidence, Rise

 

US Housing Prices, And Confidence, Rise

Five years after the collapse¹ of the U.S. housing market, Americans seem ready to buy again. Pending² home sales are up 7 percent over last year, foreclosures are at a seven-year low - and the number of homes for sale, continues to decline.  

"Housing sales numbers are continuing to trend up. In fact, if anything, realtors are saying they are looking at shortages of inventories³ of homes for sale," said Sam Coffin⁴, an economist⁵ at UBS Securities.

The lower inventories are pushing home prices higher. And that's giving builders a much needed boost, says Ken⁶ Simonson at Associated General Contractors⁷ of America.

"When you look at the broader construction industry, there's quite a boom going on in apartment construction, more recently, in single family homes and some of the private non-residential categories," Simonoson said.

The renewed optimism and rising stock prices may be aiding in an otherwise slow U.S. recovery. It may also explain why consumer confidence improved sharply in April, says fund manager Brad Friedlander.

"Borrowers and personal consumer balance sheets are a lot better than they were a few years ago. So we are seeing, beginning to see a rebound," Friedlander said.

Despite a much improved housing picture, economists⁸ say for now, it's unlikely to have a measurable impact on U.S. unemployment.  New jobs data to be released Friday is expected to show unemployment unchanged - at 7.6 percent.

1 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

2 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

3 inventories   

n.总结( inventory的名词复数 )；细账；存货清单（或财产目录）的编制

参考例句：

• In other cases, such as inventories, inputs and outputs are both continuous. 在另一些情况下，比如存货，其投入和产出都是持续不断的。
• The store must clear its winter inventories by April 1st. 该店必须在4月1日前售清冬季存货。

4 coffin   

n.棺材，灵柩

参考例句：

• When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
• The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。

5 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

6 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

7 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 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》