Housing Starts in U.S. Reached Five-Month High in June
By Bob Willis - Jul 19, 2011 8:44 AM ET .
Construction workers pass a bundle of shingles on the roof of a home in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. Photographer: Joshua Lott/Bloomberg
July 19 (Bloomberg) -- Housing starts in the U.S. rose more than forecast in June to the fastest pace in five months, led by a surge in work on multifamily dwellings like apartments. Work began on 629,000 houses at an annual pace, up 14.6 percent from the prior month, figures from the Commerce Department showed today. Building permits, a sign of future construction, unexpectedly climbed 2.5 percent. Carol Massar and Michael McKee report on Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop." (Source: Bloomberg)
.Housing starts in the U.S. rose more than forecast in June to the fastest pace in five months, led by a surge in work on multifamily dwellings like apartments.
Work began on 629,000 houses at an annual pace, up 14.6 percent from the prior month, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. The level of starts exceeded the most optimistic forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. Building permits, a sign of future construction, unexpectedly climbed 2.5 percent.
Flooding and bad weather in parts of the country in recent months may have delayed construction until last month, allowing builders to catch up with orders. While the increase points to an industry that’s stabilizing, declining home values and delays in processing foreclosures mean it may take years to clear the market of distressed properties.
“A lot of this was due to some catch-up in activity that didn’t occur in April and May,” said Paul Dales, a senior economist at Capital Economics Ltd. in Toronto, who had the highest forecast in the Bloomberg survey. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see starts edge up gradually but the bigger picture is it’s still at a very depressed level.”
Housing starts were projected to rise to a 575,000 annual rate, according to the survey. Estimates ranged from 500,000 to 610,000 in the Bloomberg survey of 71 economists.
Bloomberg.com
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