The newest housing starts report for June from the U.S. Department of Commerce, released today, shows that new home construction rose to the second-highest level since November of 2007. In this article, Bloomberg highlights the full results of the report.
Housing starts rose 9.8% to a 1.17 million annualized rate from a revised 1.07 million in May that was stronger than previously estimated, figures from the Commerce Department showed. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg was a 1.11 million rate. Ground-breaking on multifamily dwellings jumped 29.4%.
Building permits for single and multifamily properties, a gauge of future construction, climbed to an almost eight-year high, the report showed. Steady job gains, low mortgage rates and a gradual easing of lending standards are propelling sales, indicating housing will become a bigger source of strength for the economy.
“They’re pretty positive numbers,” said Lewis Alexander, chief economist at Nomura Securities International Inc. in New York. “You’ve got decent employment growth that’s been particularly good for young people, you’ve got relatively low interest rates, somewhat easing of credit standard – all of those things are helping.”
Building permits increased 7.4 % in June to a 1.34 million annualized rate, the highest since July 2007. They were projected to fall to 1.15 million.
Applications to begin work on single-family projects rose to 687,000 in June, the most since January 2008. Permits for construction of apartments and other multifamily dwellings rose 15.3% after a 20% jump the previous month.
