U.S. Housing Starts Rose 3.8% in October
November 19 2019 - 9:00AM
Dow Jones News
By Amara Omeokwe and Kate Davidson
WASHINGTON--U.S. homebuilding increased in October, bouncing
back from a decline the prior month, according to Commerce
Department data released Tuesday. Here are takeaways from the
report:
-Housing starts, a measure of new-home construction, climbed
3.8% in October from September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate
of 1.314 million. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal
estimated starts rose by 3.5% to an annual pace of 1.3 million.
-Residential permits-which can signal the volume of forthcoming
construction-rose 5.0% from the previous month to a seasonally
adjusted annual
rate of 1.461 million. Economists expected a 0.5% decrease to
1.38 million permits.
-Housing-starts data can be volatile month to month and subject
to large revisions. October's increase came with a margin of error
of 8.7 percentage points. Housing starts in September were 1.266
million, revised up from the previous estimate of 1.256 million.
Starts were up 8.5% from October 2018, and building permits rose
14.1% from the same month last year.
-The housing sector has been challenged this year by limited
availability of land and low inventory of affordably priced homes.
The National Association of Homebuilders reported Monday that a
gauge of home-builder confidence ticked lower in November from
October, but was still near its highest levels in 2019. The
National Association of Realtors on Thursday will release data on
October sales of previously-owned homes, which are estimated to
have risen from the prior month.
The Commerce report on housing starts can be found at
http://www.census.gov/construction/nrc/pdf/newresconst.pdf
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 19, 2019 08:45 ET (13:45 GMT)
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