New construction was down across the board in June but the drop was smaller than economists had rejected, according to the Census Bureau’s latest data…(Census Bureau)
Building permits fell to the lowest level since September after a 0.6% drop from May to an annual pace of 1.685M. This is actually better than economist expectations that it had fallen 2.3%. When compared to the same time last year permits are still up 1.4%.
- Single‐family authorizations in June fell 8.0% to under a million with an annual pace of 967k.
- The South leads all four regions with 55% of the building permits.
Housing starts also fell to the lowest level since September after a 2.0% drop from May to an annual rate of 1.559M (which is exactly the same as September). This was slightly better than economist projections which had starts falling 2.6% and unfortunately starts are also down 6.3% when compared to the same time last year.
- Single‐family housing starts in June also fell under a million thanks to an 8.1% drop to an annual rate of 982,000.
- The South leads all four regions with 53% of all the building permits.
NOTE: Housing completions were down 4.6% to an annual rate of 1.365M which is the lowest level since January but is still 4.6% higher than the same time one year ago.
Even though the numbers were down across the board this month it did surpass expectations which could be the silver lining if you are looking for it. The big report is next month. With homebuilder confidence plummeting 12 points in July everyone is going to be watching to see if that impacts actual output. Get the countdown clock started…