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Economy in Brief
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...
U.S. CPI Unchanged in July with Drop in Energy Prices
Consumer prices were unchanged in July after an outsized 1.3% m/m jump in June...
U.S. Federal Government Budget Deficit Shrinks in July
The U.S. Treasury Department reported a federal budget deficit of $211.1 billion in July...
U.S. Mortgage Applications Rose Slightly in the Latest Week
Mortgage applications increased 0.2% (-62.9% y/y) from one week earlier...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller April 19, 2005
Housing starts fell a sharp 17.6% from the record high the prior month which was revised slightly higher from the initial report. March starts of 1.837M were the lowest since November of last year.Consensus expectations had been for a lesser decline to 2.10M starts.
Single-family starts of 1.54M slid 14.4% m/m from the upwardly revised record high in February. Single family starts in the Northeast dropped 19.9% (-16.9% y/y) while single family starts in the Midwest reversed all of the prior month's jump with a 18.5% (-8.5% y/y) slump. Single family starts in the South fell 15.3% (-4.8% y/y) and starts in the West were off 7.8% (+0.2% y/y).
Multi family starts cratered by nearly a third to the lowest level since June of last year.
Building permits fell 4.0% but the decline the prior month was revised shallower.
Housing Starts (000s, AR) | Mar | Feb | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 1,837 | 2,229 | -8.2% | 1,952 | 1,853 | 1,7 10 |
Single-family | 1,539 | 1,798 | -5.2% | 1,605 | 1,505 | 1,363 |
Multi-family | 298 | 431 | -20.7% | 347 | 348 | 347 |
Building Permits | 2,023 | 2,107 | 0.2% | 2,035 | 1,8 89 | 1,749 |