Following an incredibly strong month of housing starts in the month of May, the government’s June report showed a decline in starts, along with a substantial uptick in building permits. This article from Forbes highlights the results of the report, released today.
Groundbreakings on new homes fell by a 11.1% in May but building permits hit a new eight-year high, the U.S. Commerce Department said Tuesday. The numbers are one positive sign that the inventory shortage holding back the housing recovery could ease.
Housing starts stood at a seasonally adjusted, annual rate of 1.036 million in May. While lower than April’s level, that rate of new home construction is 5.1% above May 2014′s rate of 986,000. Single-family housing starts in May fell by 5.4% from April, hitting a (seasonally adjusted, annual) rate of 680,000.
But the permit numbers beat economists’ expectations. In fact, May permitting activity reached a (seasonally adjusted, annual) rate of 1.275 million, the highest level for the nation since August 2007, when the rate stood at 1.321 million. May building permits were 25.4% higher than a year earlier, when the estimate stood at 1.017 million, and 11.8% higher than April’s 1.14 million.
Builder confidence in the market for newly constructed, single-family homes rose five points in June to a level of 59, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, released Monday.
