Stamp duty did not apply at all to a quarter of residential property transactions, including on homes up to a certain price in deprived areas, said the spokesman.
The slowdown in starts contributed to a 9.8% decline in residential investment in second-quarter GDP data, subtracting 0.5 a percentage point from GDP growth.
The report released by GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group, noted the growth between the first and second quarters of this year was particularly impressive given that there was a rush to install solar panels on residential and commercial rooftops by the first quarter as developers feared a key federal incentive would soon expire.
FORBES: U.S. Solar Market Jumps 69% in Q2 But Likely To Cool Off
In the third quarter, we expect a sharper decline in residential investment (perhaps -15% annualized), causing a negative contribution that outweighs the growth from commercial construction.
Demand from both manufacturing and non-residential customers improved in the quarter, which is a welcome sign after a long streak of declines.
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The UK-wide figures, which were compiled by construction research body Glenigan, indicated a total of 29, 100 residential units were approved during the second quarter of 2011.
Yingli Green Energy, just off a scorching fourth quarter in which it was the top seller of commercial and residential solar panels in California, is taking its show to the East Coast.
One of the most active investors in the quarter was TIAA-CREF, which bought a 70% stake in the residential potion of the MiMA at 460 West 42nd Street.
Set up in the 1830s as a residential area for those who did not want to associate with the Europeans living in the French Quarter, the land parcels were large, the money used to fund the buildings was new, and each white-columned mansion was built to outdo the one before it.
Residential investment increased by 14.4 percent last quarter and has increased for six quarters in a row, its longest streak since 2004-2005.
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The anemic 0.4% GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2012 would have been even worse without a 17.6% surge in real residential fixed investment.
The federation said the flow of residential approvals during the second quarter of 2011 "resumed its negative trend" in the UK as a whole, after a brief pick-up at the beginning of the year.
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