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Economy in Brief
U.S. Housing Affordability Declines Further in June
The NAR Fixed Rate Mortgage Housing Affordability Index fell 3.6% in June...
EMU Output Makes Solid Gain in June
The European Monetary Union posted a 0.7% increase for industrial output in June...
U.S. Producer Prices Fall During July; Core Increase Weakens
The Producer Price Index for Final Demand fell 0.5% during July...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Continue on an Uptrend
Initial claims for unemployment insurance filed in the week ended August 6 rose 14,000 to 262,000...
RICS Survey Points to More U.K. Housing Sector Weakness
The survey of housing market conditions in the U.K. continues to show strength in prices versus weakness...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller February 16, 2005
Housing starts unexpectedly rose 4.7% in January to a record high of 2.159M following an upwardly revised 14.4% jump in December.Consensus expectations had been for a decline to 1.93M starts.
Single-family starts rose a moderate 2.7% m/m to a record high of 1.760M. The increase, however, was limited to a 20.0% gain in starts in the South. In other regions of the country single family starts fell.
Multi family starts jumped 14.1% m/m but the gain was just about back to the October level.
Building permits rose 1.7% in January, again mostly reflecting strength in single family permits in the South.
Today's testimony by Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan is available here.
Wicksell's Natural Rate from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis can be found here.
Housing Starts (000s, AR) | Jan | Dec | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 2,159 | 2,063 | 11.6% | 1,952 | 1,853 | 1,710 |
Single-family | 1,760 | 1,713 | 12.5% | 1,605 | 1,505 | 1,363 |
Multi-family | 399 | 350 | 8.1% | 348 | 348 | 347 |
Building Permits | 2,105 | 2,069 | 6.8% | 2,035 | 1,889 | 1,749 |