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Last Update: 19-Sep-12 08:53 ET
Housing starts Rebound on Single-Family Growth
Housing starts increased to 750,000 in August from a downwardly revised 733,000 (from 746,000) in July. The Briefing.com consensus expected the number of starts to increase to 770,000. Single-family starts rose 5.5% to 535,000 in August. That is the highest level of single-family construction since the homebuyer tax credit propped up the construction numbers in April 2010. Excluding the homebuyer tax credit, August marked the most single-family starts since October 2008. Multifamily starts fell 4.9% from 226,000 in July to 215,000 in August. This sector is still running slightly above its normal trend and may tick down again next month. The number of homes currently under construction rose 0.6% to 492,000. Construction levels have increased every month since bottoming at 413,000 in August 2011. Clearly, home construction is on an upward, albeit mildly sloped, trend. Building permits fell 1.0% to 803,000 but remained above 800,000 for a second consecutive month. The consensus expected permits to decline to 800,000.
