Housing Starts in June totaled 760k annualized, 15k more than expected and up from a revised 711k in May. Gains were seen for both single family and multi with single in particular rising to the most since April ’10. Permits fell to 755k from 784k as permits for multi family starts fell by 32k only slightly offset by a gain of 3k for single family. Because both permits and starts are exceeding housing completed, construction hiring should continue to improve. Bottom line, housing starts in June are the most since Oct ’08 and while we can continue to argue that who needs new homes with still so much inventory out there, single family starts are still 62% below the highs in July ’06. Multi family construction, running about 30% of all starts, will see a brighter future as the secular normalization in the homeownership rate continues.
