Briefing.com: Housing Starts

Updated: 16-Aug-17 09:13 ET

July Housing Starts

Updated: 16-Aug-17 09:13 ET

Highlights

Housing starts declined 4.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.155 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.217 million) after being revised down to 1.213 million (from 1.215 million) in June.
Building permits decreased 4.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.223 million after being revised up to 1.275 million (from 1.254 million) in June.

Key Factors

The decline in July starts was paced by a 20.1% decrease in multi-unit starts and a 7.8% drop in multi-unit permits
Single-family starts were a mixed bag. Starts in the Northeast rose 9.8%; starts in the Midwest declined 7.4%; starts in the South increased 2.0%; and starts in the West fell 4.3%
Single-family permits were also mixed: Northeast (-1.8%); Midwest (-3.3%); South (+1.6%); and the West (-1.1%)
The total number of units under construction at the end of the period stood at 1.063 million, down from a revised 1.065 (from 1.070 million) in June

Big Picture

The key takeaway from the report is that a pullback in starts occurred after a strong June, returning the series to the middle of a range that has been in effect over the past two years. Single-family starts declined 0.5% from June, which won't do much to alleviate supply constraints.