US housing starts reach 5-month high in July

According to media reports, US housing starts hit a five-month high in July, beating economists’ expectations in a survey by Bloomberg. The latest data from the US Commerce Department revealed that housing starts climbed 2.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.21 million units in July compared with economists’ estimates, which called for a pace of 1.186 million units. The upward trend in the pace of housing starts was attributed to higher home sales.

Construction of single family houses increased 0.5% to 770,000 units, posting the highest level since February while housing starts for multi-family units rose 5% to 411,000 in July. Housing starts in the Northeast increased 15.5% while housing projects in the West fell 5.9% in June. In the South and the Midwest, housing starts climbed 3.5% and 2.3%, respectively in July.

However, building permits, an indicator of future construction, edged down 0.1% to 1.152 million units compared with economists’ estimates of 1.16 million tons.