Housing Starts decline in June

07-20-2010 • CalculatedRiskBlog.com & BusinessInsider.com

U.S housing starts for June came in at 549,000 vs. 575,000 expected. New building permits nonetheless beat expectations, coming in at 586,000 vs. 572,000 expected. Census Bureau: BUILDING PERMITS Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 586,000. This is 2.1 percent (±2.1%)* above the revised May rate of 574,000, but is 2.3 percent (±2.0%) below the June 2009 estimate of 600,000. Single-family authorizations in June were at a rate of 421,000; this is 3.4 percent (±1.8%) below the revised May figure of 436,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 145,000 in June. HOUSING STARTS Privately-owned housing starts in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 549,000. This is 5.0 percent (±13.2%)* below the revised May estimate of 578,000 and is 5.8 percent (±10.5%)* below the June 2009 rate of 583,000. Single-family housing starts in June were at a rate of 454,000; this is 0.7 percent (±10.7%)* below the revised May figure of 457,000. The June rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 88,000.