Groundbreakings on new homes rose 10.1% year-over-year in July to reach their highest level since October 2007, the U.S. Commerce Department said Tuesday.
July housing starts stood at a seasonally adjusted, annual rate of 1.206 million, 0.2% above the revised June estimate of 1.204 million, and well above from June 2014′s rate of 1.095 million. Single-family housing starts in July were at a (seasonally adjusted, annual) rate of 782,000, 12.8% above June’s revised figure of 693,000. Starts on buildings with five or more units fell in July, to a (seasonally adjusted, annual) rate of 413,000.
While groundbreakings were up in July, permitting was down. July permits tumbled 16.3% from June to a (seasonally adjusted, annual) rate of 1.119 million (June’s rate was revised to 1.337 million). July’s level was 7.5% higher than a year earlier, when the estimate stood at 1.041 million. Permitting was down for both multi- and single-family homes: permitting for buildings with five or more units dropped to 350,000 in July, while permits for single-family homes fell 1.4% to 627,000 in July compared to June’s 636,000.
Tuesday’s groundbreaking numbers fell within the range of expectations of economists surveyed by Bloomberg ahead of the release; however, the permitting numbers fell short.
Despite the drop in permits, developers continue to feel good about the housing market. Builder confidence in the market for newly constructed, single-family homes rose one point in August to hit a level of 61, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo WFC +0.00% Housing Market Index released Monday. A reading of 50 or higher means that more builders rate conditions are good than poor; the measure has now hit that mark for more than one year.
“[Monday’s] report is consistent with our forecast for a gradual strengthening of the single-family housing sector in 2015,” said David Crowe, NAHB’s chief economist. “Job and economic gains should keep the market moving forward at a modest pace throughout the rest of the year.”
Article source: http://www.forbes.com/
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