Global| Jul 18 2012U.S. Housing Starts Recover To Expansion High
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
The housing market continues to respond to low interest rates, however slowly. June housing starts rose 6.9% to 760,000 (23.6% y/y) from 711,000 in May, revised from 708,000. The latest level was the highest of the economic recovery, [...]
The housing market continues to respond to low interest rates, however slowly. June housing starts rose 6.9% to 760,000 (23.6% y/y) from 711,000 in May, revised from 708,000. The latest level was the highest of the economic recovery, although it remained nearly two-thirds below the 2005 average. Expectations had been for 735,000 starts in June.
Higher starts of multi-family units led last month's improvement with a 12.8% gain (28.5% y/y) to 221,000. Starts of single-family homes rose 4.7% (21.7% y/y) to 539,000. The performance amongst regions remained mixed with only the West and the Northeast showing improvement.
Building permits fell 3.7% to 755,000 (+19.3% y/y). Single-family permits ticked up 0.6% (19.7% y/y) but multi-family permits decreased 10.9% (+18.6 y/y).
The housing starts figures can be found in Haver's USECON database. The expectations figure is contained in the AS1REPNA database.
Household Financial Stability: Who Suffered the Most from the Crisis from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is available here.
| Housing Starts (000s, SAAR) | Jun | May | Apr | Y/Y% | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 760 | 711 | 747 | 23.6 | 612 | 586 | 554 |
| Single-Family | 539 | 515 | 504 | 21.7 | 434 | 471 | 442 |
| Multi-Family | 221 | 196 | 243 | 28.5 | 178 | 114 | 112 |
| Starts By Region | |||||||
| Northeast | 77 | 63 | 80 | 11.6 | 68 | 72 | 61 |
| Midwest | 101 | 109 | 125 | -19.8 | 103 | 97 | 95 |
| South | 363 | 379 | 395 | 26.9 | 309 | 296 | 281 |
| West | 219 | 160 | 147 | 63.4 | 131 | 120 | 117 |
| Building Permits | 755 | 784 | 723 | 19.3 | 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.
