SANTA ANA, CA—If a natural disaster damages a sufficient number of homes, developers look for opportunities to deliver more housing to the market, but there are obstacles, First American Financial Corp.'s chief economist Mark Fleming tells GlobeSt.com. According to a recent report from the firm, the Census Bureau report for September sent a pessimistic message to the national housing market.

Permits declined 4.3% compared to a year ago. The decreased pace of permits, a leading indicator of starts, is a concern for further increases in starts in the coming year. The 4.6% decline in single-family housing starts is likely due to the impact of hurricane damage.

In addition, it was clear that hurricanes demolished the job creation numbers with a decline of 33,000 non-farm payroll jobs created. Hurricane Harvey significantly damaged or destroyed more than 30,000 homes, and Irma similarly damaged more than 4,000 homes. Residential construction employment, the primary category of labor that build new homes, declined by 3,900, while specialty trade contractors (the plumbers, electricians and other specialized labor that is often involved in renovation and rehabilitation projects) increased by almost 9,000.