Global| Sep 19 2012U.S. Housing Starts Are Firm
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
New residential building activity remained on a solid footing last month. Total housing starts rose 2.3% (29.1% y/y) to 750,000 (AR) from 733,000 during July, revised down from 746,000. Expectations had been for 760,000 starts in [...]
New residential building activity remained on a solid footing last month. Total housing starts rose 2.3% (29.1% y/y) to 750,000 (AR) from 733,000 during July, revised down from 746,000. Expectations had been for 760,000 starts in August. Higher starts of single-family homes led last month's improvement. The 5.5% (26.8% y/y) gain to 535,000 was to the highest level since April 2010. Conversely, starts of multi-family homes fell 4.9% (+35.2% y/y) to 215,000 but they remained roughly one-third higher than the year-ago level.
By region, starts in the Midwest posted a strong 20.7% gain (55.8% y/y) followed by a 3.7% rise (22.1% y/y) in the South. Starts in the Northeast fell 12.6% (+35.7% y/y) and starts in the West were off 4.3% (+24.8% y/y).
Building permits slipped 1.0% (+24.5% y/y) to 803,000 following several months of strength. Permits for single-family homes were roughly unchanged m/m (19.3% y/y) while multi-family permits fell 3.0% (+34.7% y/y).
The housing starts figures can be found in Haver's USECON database. The expectations figure is contained in the AS1REPNA database.
How Positive Are Recent Employment and Labor Market Trends? from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis can be found here.
| Housing Starts (000s,SAAR) | Aug | Jul | Jun | Y/Y% | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 750 | 733 | 754 | 29.1 | 612 | 586 | 554 |
| Single-Family | 535 | 507 | 531 | 26.8 | 434 | 471 | 442 |
| Multi-Family | 215 | 226 | 223 | 35.2 | 178 | 114 | 112 |
| Starts By Region | |||||||
| Northeast | 76 | 87 | 78 | 35.7 | 68 | 72 | 61 |
| Midwest | 134 | 111 | 98 | 55.8 | 103 | 97 | 95 |
| South | 364 | 351 | 366 | 22.1 | 309 | 296 | 281 |
| West | 176 | 184 | 212 | 24.8 | 131 | 120 | 117 |
| Building Permits | 803 | 811 | 760 | 24.5 | 624 | 604 | 582 |
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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