Credit ratings service Standard & Poor's (S&P) delivered a guarded but upbeat assessment of U.S. home builders, reporting that “operating conditions … have improved over the past six months, and the sector's overall credit quality has steadied as a result.” The new report cites a “cautiously stable” outlook for the sector overall, but warns that that trend could backpedal later this year if the baseline residential construction forecast doesn't materialize.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has lowered its rating on the unsecured notes of Building FirstSource to 'CC' from 'CCC-' and revised its recovery rating to '6' from '5' to reflect diminished recovery prospects, given a higher level of first-lien obligations, the credit rating company announced. The '6' recovery rating indicates an expectation for a negligible (0% to 10%) recovery in the event of a payment default.

In a report entitled "Commercial Construction Markets are Helping to Repair U.S. Building Materials,” Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has posited that commercial construction and the slowed rate of spending decline for that sector has helped the overall credit availability for construction projects. 

Standard & Poor's economists are projecting a 14% increase in residential housing in 2011 over 2010, and spending on repairs and remodeling possibly increasing about 5%.