Housing starts jump 6.9 percent in June

Nationwide housing production rose by 6.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 760,000 units in June, according to newly released figures from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Census Bureau. This is the fastest pace of new-home construction since October of 2008.

Single-family starts rose for a fourth consecutive month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 539,000 units in June, their fastest pace since April of 2010. Meanwhile, multi-family starts rose 12.8 percent to 221,000 units, in keeping with the solid pace of demand for rental units.

Regionally, combined single-and multi-family housing starts rose 22.2 percent in the Northeast and 36.9 percent in the West, but fell back 7.3 percent in the Midwest and 4.2 percent in the South in June. However, the declines were entirely due to monthly volatility on the multi-family side, as single-family starts posted gains across every region in June.

Building permits

Issuance of new building permits, which can be an indicator of future building activity, fell 3.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 755,000 units in June following a large increase in the previous month. While single-family permitting posted a marginal, 0.6 percent gain to 493,000 units, multi-family permitting fell back 10.9 percent to 262,000 units from an above-trend pace in the previous month.

On a regional basis, permit issuance rose 2.9 percent in the West and held unchanged in the Northeast, but retreated 0.8 percent in the Midwest and 8 percent in the South in June.

Housing completions

Housing completions reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 622,000 for the month, a 7.2 percent increase from 2011. Single-family completions were up 3.5 percent.

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