U.S. Housing Starts Rose in December, Beating Expectations
January 19 2022 - 09:21AM
Dow Jones News
By Xavier Fontdegloria
Construction of new homes in the U.S. increased in December,
extending the sharp rise registered the previous month, data from
the Commerce Department showed Wednesday. Here are the main
takeaways from the report:
--Housing starts, a measure of U.S. homebuilding, rose 1.4% in
December on month, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.702
million, the highest level since March. The reading is above the
consensus forecast from The Wall Street Journal poll of economists,
who expected starts to decline 1.7% to an annual pace of 1.65
million.
--Housing starts are 2.5% above the same month a year
earlier.
--In November, housing starts were slightly revised to 1.678
million from an earlier estimate of 1.679 million.
--Monthly housing starts data are volatile and often revised.
December's data came with a margin of error of 10.1 percentage
points.
--Residential permits, which can be a bellwether for future home
construction, increased 9.1% in December on month, to a seasonally
adjusted annual rate of 1.873 million. The figure beats economists'
forecasts of a 0.1% drop to an annual pace of 1.71 million.
--U.S. housing starts report for December compares with
January's indicator compiled by the National Association of Home
Builders, which showed confidence in the single-family housing
market waning slightly but still at robust levels.
--Housing demand remains solid but construction of homes has
been hampered by material and labor shortages, which have led to
increasing costs and extended project deadlines.
Write to Xavier Fontdegloria at xavier.fontdegloria@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 19, 2022 09:06 ET (14:06 GMT)
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