The monthly
report on new residential construction from the Commerce Department showed on Wednesday
that housing starts jumped by 3.0 per cent m-o-m in June to a seasonally
adjusted annual pace of 1.353 million while building permits climbed by 3.4 per
cent m-o-m to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.446 million (the highest level
in three months).
Economists had forecast
housing starts of 1.300 million units for June and building permits of 1.400
million units.
Data for May was
revised to show homebuilding increasing
at a pace of 1.314 million units, instead of rising at a rate of 1.314 million
units as originally announced.
According to
the report, permits for single-family homes, the largest segment of the market,
dropped by 2.3 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 15.6 per
cent m-o-m.
In the
meantime, groundbreaking on single-family homes declined by 2.2 per cent m-o-m
in June, while multi-unit starts soared by 22.0 per cent m-o-m.