new home housing starts nahb 2
  • Prior month Housing starts 1.263 million revised from 1.256 million
  • Prior month building permits 1.394 million.
  • Housing starts 1.321M versus 1.300M estimate
  • Building permits 1.397M vs 1.390M estimate

Here is a more detailed summary:

Building Permits

  • Total permits: 1.397M SAAR, +0.2% MoM, -4.4% YoY

  • Single-family permits: 866K, -3.7% MoM

  • Multi-family (5+ units): 478K

Housing Starts

  • Total starts: 1.321M SAAR, +4.6% MoM, -0.5% YoY

  • Single-family starts: 883K, -4.6% MoM

  • Multi-family (5+ units): 414K

Housing Completions

  • Total completions: 1.314M SAAR, -14.7% MoM, -24.1% YoY

  • Single-family completions: 908K, -12.5% MoM

  • Multi-family (5+ units): 383K

Of note is the Housing completions at -24.1% from a year ago....That is a big number and is more of a worry vs employment data which is still solid.

Looking at the charts, although higher, the housing starts are still near lows.

Housing starts

Looking at Building permits, the data is also still near lows too.

Building permits
Source: Forex Live