U.S. Housing Starts Rebound Much More Than Expected In January
February 16 2018 - 4:32AM
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After reporting a steep drop in new residential construction in
the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on
Friday showing housing starts in the U.S. rebounded by much more
than anticipated in the month of January.
The Commerce Department said housing starts soared by 9.7
percent to an annual rate of 1.326 million in January after
tumbling by 6.9 percent to a revised 1.209 million in December.
Economists had expected housing starts to climb by 3.5 percent
to an annual rate of 1.234 million from the 1.192 million
originally reported for the previous month.
With the much bigger than expected rebound, housing starts
reached their highest annual rate since hitting 1.328 million in
October of 2016.
The jump in new residential construction was partly due to a
spike in multi-family starts, which shot up by 23.7 percent to an
annual rate of 449,000.
Single-family starts also climbed by 3.7 percent to a rate of
877,000 in January after plunging by 10.6 percent to a rate of
846,000 in December.
Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, also
surged up by 7.4 percent to an annual rate of 1.396 million in
January from the revised December rate of 1.300 million.
The jump surprised economists, who had expected building permits
to edge down to a rate of 1.300 million from the 1.302 million
originally reported for the previous month.
With the unexpected increase, building permits reached their
highest annual rate since hitting 1.407 million in June of
2007.
Multi-family permits surged up by 26.5 percent to a rate of
530,000, more than offsetting a 1.7 percent drop in single-family
permits to a rate of 866,000.
Compared to the same month a year ago, housing starts in January
were up by 7.3 percent, while building permits were up by 7.4
percent.
On Thursday, the National Association of Home Builders released
a separate report showing homebuilder confidence remained at a
healthy level in the month of February.
The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index came
in at 72 in February, unchanged from January and in line with
economist estimates.
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