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Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
Profits & 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 June 19, 2012
Last month, housing starts fell 4.8% to 708,000. The figure disappointed expectations for 725,000 starts. However, the picture for home building activity may have nevertheless brightened. The April level of starts was revised up to 744,000 from 717,000 and the Q2 average so far of 726,000 was 1.5% higher than Q1 and the highest level of the economic recovery.
Starts of single-family homes rose 3.2% (26.2% y/y) to 516,000 from an upwardly revised 500,000. Starts of multi-family homes fell by nearly one quarter month-to-month but were up one-third y/y. The performance amongst regions was mixed with only the West showing a m/m improvement
Building permits jumped 7.9% (25.0% y/y) to the highest level of the recovery. Single-family permits rose 4.0% (19.9% y/y) while multi-family permits increased 15.3% (34.9% 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) | May | Apr | Mar | Y/Y % | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 708 | 744 | 706 | 28.5 | 612 | 586 | 554 |
Single-Family | 516 | 500 | 481 | 26.2 | 434 | 471 | 442 |
Multi-Family | 192 | 244 | 225 | 35.2 | 178 | 114 | 112 |
Starts By Region | |||||||
Northeast | 63 | 79 | 87 | 10.5 | 68 | 72 | 61 |
Midwest | 111 | 128 | 116 | 11.0 | 103 | 97 | 95 |
South | 367 | 391 | 354 | 39.5 | 309 | 296 | 281 |
West | 167 | 146 | 149 | 27.5 | 131 | 120 | 117 |
Building Permits | 780 | 723 | 769 | 25.0 | 624 | 604 | 582 |