July housing starts up, but still below expectations

WASHINGTON — The pace of housing starts rose by 0.9% to a 1.168 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in July, below expectations for a 1.270 million rate due to mixed indicators and following downward revisions to May and June starts, data reported by the Commerce Department Thursday morning showed.

Housing starts fell by 4.0% in the Northeast region, while starts rose 11.6% in the Midwest, rose 10.4% in the South, and fell 19.6% in the West.

housing starts

Housing starts of single-family homes rose by 0.9% in July after a 9.0% fall in the previous month, while multi-family starts rose 0.7% in July, based on an MNI calculation. This followed a 22.3% decline in the previous month.

Building permits rose by 1.5% in the month to a 1.311 million rate after falling to 1.292 million in June. This rise was driven by gains in both single and multi-family homes. Homes permitted but not started rose 6.7% in July with single-family homes up 6.6%.

As a result, starts could see gains in the coming months. Single-family permits authorized rose by 1.9%, while multi-family permits were up 0.7%. Additionally, the NAHB index for August reported on Wednesday showed no change in the high builder confidence, remaining at 67 for the month.

The housing starts average pace for the second quarter was 1.254 million, down from the 1.317 million first quarter average after all revisions were included. The second quarter permits pace, at 1.319 million, was down from the 1.355 million first quarter average.

Homes under construction were up 0.1%, while completions were down 1.7%, suggesting declining new home supply in the near term.

Market News International is a real-time global news service for fixed-income and foreign exchange market professionals. See www.marketnews.com.
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