With homebuilder sentiment collapsing at its fastest rate on record in July (ex-COVID lockdowns), one could be forgiven for thinking these same homebuilders would have been slowing building starts and permit applications in June, but analysts expected improvement in June from May's ugliness.

Both Starts and Permits dropped in June (-2.0% MoM and -0.6% MoM respectively), with starts below expectations (+2.0% exp but May revised up to -11.9% from -14.4%)) and permits above expectations (-2.7% exp)...