Recent Updates
- Philippines: International Reserves (Feb)
- Australia: Residential Property Price Indexes (Q4)
- Australia: Residential Property Price Indexes (Q4)
- Japan: Flow of Funds (Q4)
- New Zealand: Regional GDP (2018)
- New Zealand: Motor Vehicle Registrations (Feb)
- Korea: Housing Supply/Inventory Statistics (Jan)
- Euro area: **Select SA trade series for the EU and EA have been reverted
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
EMU Trade Surplus Expands on Weak Import Rise
In the EMU, both import and export gains were modest in January...
U.S. JOLTS: Job Openings Remain Abundant
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total job openings rate increased to 4.8% during January...
U.S. Industrial Production Edges Higher
Industrial production increased a less-than-expected 0.1% (3.5% y/y) during February...
Empire State Manufacturing Index Retreat Suggests Continued Slow Growth
The Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions fell to 3.7 this month...
EMU Inflation Trends Are Still Weak
The EMU HICP for February gained 0.1%, the same as in January, after a 0.2% decline in December...
by Tom Moeller July 18, 2007
Housing starts rose 2.3% during June to 1.467M and slightly beat Consensus expectations for 1.45M starts. The increase did little to dampen this year’s pace of 20%+ y/y declines.
The increase in June starts was all in multi-family structures. These rose 12.5% to 316,000 but essentially have been moving sideways.
Single-family starts slipped 0.2% to 1.15M, down for the third month in a row.
By region, single-family housing starts in the South fell a hard 4.6% (-27.2% y/y). Single-family starts in the Northeast rose 0.9% (19.6% y/y) and starts in the Midwest rose 3.1% (-21.7% y/y). Out West starts recovered 6.7% (-20.3% y/y).
Today’s testimony by Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke can be found here.
| Housing Starts (000s, AR) | June | May | Y/Y | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 1,467 | 1,434 | -19.4% | 1,819 | 2,073 | 1,950 |
| Single-family | 1,151 | 1,153 | -21.6% | 1,478 | 1,719 | 1,604 |
| Multi-family | 316 | 281 | -9.7% | 341 | 354 | 345 |
| Building Permits | 1,596 | 1,513 | -24.3% | 1,834 | 2,159 | 2,058 |
