Housing starts surge
Government report says initial construction of U.S. homes rose to an units last month. By Ben Rooney, CNNMoney.com staff writer Last Updated: July 17, 2009: 9:51 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Initial construction of U.S. homes and applications for building permits b government figures released Friday.
Housing starts roseto a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 582,000, up 3.6% from a revised 562,000 in May, a
Economists were expecting housing starts to increase to an annual rate of 524,000 units, according to a conse
Single-family housing starts were especially strong, up 14.4% on a month-over-month basis. It was the bigge core of the housing market, since December 2004.
Friday's report suggests that the battered housing market is gradually stabilizing, according to Mike Larson, r Research.
"The new home industry has done a good job of reducing supply," Larson wrote in a research report. "But the oversupplied, and we continue to be inundated with an influx of distressed and foreclosed properties."
Applications for building permits, an indicator of future construction activity, rose 8.7% to a seasonally adjus the highest number of applications since December and more than the 530,000 annual rate that economists ha
June marks the second month that starts have increased after the annual rate of new homes breaking ground f April.
New home construction activity was strongest in the Midwest, where starts were up by 33.3% versus the prev jumped 28.6% in June.
But the West and the South both saw declines in the number of new homes breaking ground last month. Start in the South. First Published: July 17, 2009: 8:41 AM ET