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Economy in Brief
German PPI Accelerates
The German year-on-year PPI has generally been decelerating since early 2017...
U.S. Leading Economic Indicators Signal Continued Expansion
The Conference Board's Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators increased 0.3% during March...
Philadelphia Fed Factory Conditions Improve; Prices Jump
The Philadelphia Fed reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index rose to 23.2 during April...
U.S. Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance Are Little Changed
Initial unemployment insurance claims slipped to 232,000 (-6.1% y/y) during the week ended April 14...
U.K. Retail Sales Fall
U.K. GDP is expected to cool its jets when the first quarter GDP number is released...
by Tom Moeller August 19, 2014
Housing starts during July jumped 15.7% to 1,093,000 AR (21.7% y/y) following a 4.0% June decline to 945,000, revised from 893,000. The latest level was the highest since November and easily beat expectations for 965,000 starts in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Last month's increase reflected a 28.9% rebound (44.7% y/y) in starts of multi-family homes after two months of sharp decline. Also improving were starts of single-family homes, up 8.3% (10.1% y/y). That also followed two months of decline.
A 44.0% rebound (26.3% y/y) in starts in the Northeast led last month's total increase. That was followed by a 29.0% rise (27.4% y/y) in the South; the West posted an 18.6% increase (23.4% y/y). Working 24.8% lower (+1.9% y/y) were starts in the Midwest.
Building permits improved 8.1% (7.7% y/y) to the highest level since April. The gain was led by a 21.5% rebound (14.1% y/y) in multi-family permits. Permits to build single-family homes inched 0.9% higher (3.9% y/y) to the highest level since November.
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) | Jul | Jun | May | Jul Y/Y % | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 1,093 | 945 | 984 | 21.7 | 929 | 783 | 612 |
Single-Family | 656 | 606 | 634 | 10.1 | 621 | 537 | 434 |
Multi-Family | 437 | 339 | 350 | 44.7 | 308 | 247 | 178 |
Starts By Region | |||||||
Northeast | 144 | 100 | 88 | 26.3 | 96 | 80 | 68 |
Midwest | 164 | 218 | 164 | 1.9 | 149 | 128 | 103 |
South | 511 | 396 | 541 | 27.4 | 467 | 400 | 309 |
West | 274 | 231 | 191 | 23.4 | 217 | 175 | 132 |
Building Permits | 1,052 | 973 | 1,005 | 7.7 | 964 | 829 | 624 |