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Economy in Brief
UK Consumer Sentiment Hits Lowest Reading since 1996
(when the GFK survey began; also lowest reading 'ever')
Of these 13 readings eight of them declined on the month in May three of them improved and two of them were unchanged...
U.S. Existing Home Sales Continue to Fall in April as Houses Become Less Affordable
The combination of soaring home prices across the nation and rising interest rates is making homes less affordable...
U.S. Index of Leading Indicators Fell in April
Five of the index's components fell in April, one was unchanged and four increased...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Rose in the Latest Week
The state insured rates of unemployment in regular programs vary widely...
CBI Gauge in the UK Continues to Be Upbeat
The global economy has a lot of challenges...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
Profits and Margins Plunge In Q1: Expect More Margin Contraction As Fed Squeezes Inflation
The Many Links of Inflation Cycle: Hard Landing Is Needed to Crack Them
Peak Inflation and Fed Policy: A Relationship which Should Worry the Fed and Scare Investors
Why Have the Yields on TIPS Been Negative in the Past Two Years?
by Tom Moeller April 17, 2012
Housing starts unexpectedly returned to a five month low last month. Despite mild weather, the 5.8% decline (+10.3% y/y) left starts at 654,000 in March. Expectations had been for 700,000.
Lower starts of multi-family homes accounted for the decline in the total. They fell 16.9% (+9.7% y/y) following two months of strong increase. Starts of single-family homes slipped 0.2% m/m but rose 10.5% y/y. The performance amongst regions was mixed. Starts in the South fell 15.9% m/m. Elsewhere, starts rose by one-third in the Northeast but were little changed in the Midwest and West.
Building permits rose 4.5% m/m during March to 747,000. The nearly one-third y/y rise brought permits to the highest since September 2008. Single-family permits fell 3.5% (+17.9% y/y). Multi-family permits increased 20.8% and by 56.6% y/y.
The housing starts figures can be found in Haver's USECON database. The expectations figure is contained in the AS1REPNA database.
Housing Starts (000s, SAAR) | Mar | Feb | Jan | Y/Y % | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 654 | 694 | 714 | 10.3 | 611 | 585 | 554 |
Single-Family | 462 | 463 | 509 | 10.5 | 434 | 471 | 442 |
Multi-Family | 192 | 231 | 205 | 9.7 | 177 | 114 | 112 |
Starts By Region | |||||||
Northeast | 89 | 67 | 73 | 45.9 | 68 | 72 | 61 |
Midwest | 102 | 101 | 103 | 25.9 | 103 | 97 | 95 |
South | 334 | 397 | 400 | -0.9 | 309 | 296 | 281 |
West | 129 | 129 | 138 | 13.2 | 131 | 120 | 117 |
Building Permits | 747 | 715 | 682 | 30.1 | 606 | 603 | 582 |