The monthly
report on new residential construction from the Commerce Department revealed on
Friday that housing starts increased by 4.6 per cent m-o-m in June to a
seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.321 million, while building permits rose
by 0.2 per cent m-o-m to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.397 million.
Economists had anticipated
housing starts of 1.300 million units in June and building permits of 1.390
million units.
Data for May
was revised to show homebuilding rising at
a pace of 1.263 million units, instead of increasing at a rate of 1.256
million units as originally reported.
According to
the report, permits for single-family homes, the largest segment of the market,
declined by 3.7 per cent m-o-m in June,
while approvals for the multi-family homes segment (includes 2 to 4 and 5 or
more housing units) surged by 7.3 per cent m-o-m.
In the meantime, groundbreaking on single-family
homes dropped by 4.6 per cent m-o-m in June, while multi-unit starts jumped by 30.6 per cent m-o-m.