Global| Jun 16 2011U.S. Housing Starts Improve Slightly
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
New activity in the housing sector continued to languish last month. Housing starts rose just 3.5% during May to 560,000 (AR) following an 8.8% April decline, initially reported as -10.6% . The latest figure remained near the lowest [...]
New activity in the housing sector continued to languish last month.
Housing starts rose just 3.5% during May to 560,000 (AR) following an 8.8%
April decline, initially reported as -10.6% . The latest figure remained
near the lowest in two years and compared to Consensus expectations for 546,000
starts.
Single-family starts rose 3.7% and recovered the prior month's decline. Activity in the multi-family area showed an increase of just 2.9% but that followed a 21.7% April drop. Starts of 2-to-4 building units fell by one-half m/m (-41.7% y/y) but starts of larger buildings with 5 or more units rose 8.9% (24.1% y/y).
Building permits rose 8.7% (5.2% y/y). Single-family permits rose 2.5% (-6.9% y/y) while multi-family permits rose by nearly one-quarter m/m (40.8% 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 % | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 560 | 541 | 593 | -3.4 | 585 | 554 | 900 |
| Single-Family | 419 | 404 | 418 | -8.9 | 471 | 442 | 616 |
| Multi-Family | 141 | 137 | 175 | 17.5 | 114 | 112 | 284 |
| Starts By Region | |||||||
| Northeast | 58 | 60 | 61 | -18.3 | 72 | 61 | 120 |
| Midwest | 94 | 98 | 81 | -11.3 | 98 | 95 | 134 |
| South | 271 | 267 | 337 | -6.2 | 296 | 281 | 451 |
| West | 137 | 116 | 114 | 20.2 | 120 | 117 | 195 |
| Building Permits | 612 | 563 | 574 | 5.2 | 603 | 582 | 896 |
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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