U.S. Housing Starts Spike In August But Building Permits Slump
19 September 2018 - 7:09PM
RTTF2
A report released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday showed
a sharp increase in new residential construction in the U.S. in the
month of August, although the report also showed a steep drop in
building permits during the month.
The Commerce Department said housing starts spiked by 9.2
percent to an annual rate of 1.282 million in August from the
revised July estimate of 1.174 million.
Economists had expected housing starts to jump by 5.7 percent to
a rate of 1.235 million from the 1.168 million originally reported
for the previous month.
The much stronger than expected growth partly reflected a
substantial increase in multi-family starts, which soared by 29.3
percent to a rate of 406,000 in August from 314,000 in July.
Single-family starts also showed a notable increase, climbing by
1.9 percent to a rate of 876,000 in August from 860,000 in
July.
Meanwhile, the report said building permits tumbled by 5.7
percent to an annual rate of 1.229 million in August from a revised
1.303 million in July.
Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, had
been expected to edge down by 0.1 percent to a rate of 1.310
million from the 1.311 million originally reported for the previous
month.
Single-family permits plunged by 6.1 percent to a rate of
820,000 in August from 873,000 in July, while multi-family permits
slumped by 4.9 percent to 409,000 from 430,000.
On Tuesday, the National Association of Home Builders released a
separate report showing homebuilder confidence remained firm in the
month of September.
The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index came
in at 67 in September, unchanged from August. Economists had
expected the index to edge down to 66.
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