• Increase is surprisingly strong.

• Single-family and multi-family starts rise.

• Building permits decline again.

Housing starts increased 6.3% (29.1% y/y) during June to 1.643 million (SAAR from 1.546 million in May, revised from 1.572 million units. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected June starts of 1.586.

Starts of single-family homes rose 6.3% (28.5% y/y) in June to 1.160 million units from 1.091 million in May, revised from 1.098 million. Starts of multi-family units improved 6.2% (30.5% y/y) to 483,000 from 455,000 units, revised from 474,000.

Building permits declined 5.1% (+23.3% y/y) last month to 1.598 million from 1.683 million in May, revised from 1.681 million. Permits to build single-family homes declined 6.3% (+25.1% y/y) to 1.063 million, down for the third straight month. Permits to build multi-family homes weakened 2.6% (+20.0% y/y) to 535,000, remaining the lowest level since December.

By region, housing starts in the Northeast fell 9.0% (+5.2% y/y) to 122,000, the third straight monthly decline. In the Midwest, starts declined 7.5% (+1.0% y/y) to 210,000 after rising 26.1% in May. Housing starts in the South improved 9.7% (35.1% y/y) to 882,000 following a 2.8% rise in May. In the West, starts rose 12.6% (44.9% y/y) to 429,000, the highest level in four months.

The housing starts and permits figures can be found in Haver's USECON database. The expectations figure is contained in the AS1REPNA database.