US new home construction falls

[alp227]

Source: Financial Times

New-home construction fell in July, while the number of building permits jumped to the highest level in four years, pointing to continued momentum in the recovery of the US housing market.

Housing starts fell 1.1 per cent to a 746,000 annual rate from June’s 754,000 pace, Commerce Department figures showed. This followed a 6.8 per cent rebound the month before. The July number fell slightly below consensus forecasts for 750,000 units.

However, building permits –a proxy for future construction –rose to a 812,000 pace, the most since August 2008. This topped market expectations for 766,000 units, led by strength in the multifamily property sector. The single-family home sector also showed improvement.

Read more: http://liveweb.archive.org/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cd73ca28-e79c-11e1-86bf-00144feab49a.html

[msongs]

1. maybe that's because sales of used houses are up n foreclosures are down? nt

[AtheistCrusader]

2. Bad for people working in the construction industry BUT

this is overall, potentially good news for the housing market.
Strange though, must be the leading edge of a trough, because building material sales were up more than 1% last quarter.

Building fewer, but larger homes? Spending more on thicker walls/insulation to meet tougher efficiency code requirements?

I wonder what the larger picture is here.

[FBaggins]

5. I think you may have missed it

The report was taken to be very solid... and new home builder stocks soared. Starts dipped slightly (but only after a very solid prior month) and they're up more than 20% over last year.

The permits number (particularly the single-family permits) is widely considered to be the most important figure in the release... and was quite solid.

Plus builder confidence hit a more than 5-yr high.

[wilt the stilt]

3. The height of the buying season

is in the spring. I would expect starts to go down as these are being finished in the winter and nothing moves even in good times in the winter.

[RebelOne]

4. Can't prove it by me.

There is a huge condo construction project going up behind my house. The noise is horrendous, and the heavy earth-clearing machines are driving me crazy. I live in a mobile home and those huge machines shake my house so that it feels like a mini earthquake. I have e-mailed the construction company to complain, but have had no reply. I didn't expect any, but at least I could get off my chest the stress that it is causing me.