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Economy in Brief

Housing Starts Unchanged, Single Family Slipped
by Tom Moeller July 19, 2005

Housing starts were unchanged last month at 2.004M units.Consensus expectations had been for 2.05M starts.

Single-family starts slipped 2.5% after rising 4.2% in May which was a slightly weaker gain than reported initially. The June decline in single family starts occurred in the Midwest (-10.0% m/m, +13.4% y/y) and in the West (-10.2% m/m, +4.8% y/y). In the Northeast starts rose to the second highest level on record (5.1% m/m, 7.5% y/y) and in the South single family starts rose as well (4.0% m/m, 10.4% y/y).

Multi family starts gained back about half of the prior month's decline with a 14.2% rise.

Building permits rose 2.4% and generally have moved sideways this year.
Housing Starts (000s, AR) June May Y/Y 2004 2003 2002
Total 2,004 2,004 9.7% 1,950 1,854 1,7 10
  Single-family 1,667 1,709 9.2% 1,604 1,505 1,363
  Multi-family 337 295 12.0% 345 349 347
Building Permits 2,111 2,062 4.8% 2,058 1,8 88 1,749
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