Home building dives to five-month low

[Jeffersons Ghost]

Home building dives to five-month low

(Reuters) - Housing starts fell to a five-month low in May but industrial output rose, evidence of an uneven recovery that has kept inflation at a minimum.

As the government's tax incentives for homebuyers expired, new home building dropped 10 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 593,000 units, the lowest level since December, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday.

Industrial production, in contrast, surged 1.2 percent. Some of the rise was due to a spike in utilities as rising temperatures prompted many Americans to turn on their air conditioners. But manufacturing output was firm as well, climbing 0.9 percent, according to the Federal Reserve report.

Despite that performance, prices at the wholesale level retreated in May. The Labor Department's Producer Price Index eased 0.3 percent as gasoline costs tumbled.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65F34120100616

[SocialistLez]

1. We don't need more homes...more of the homes we have need to be affordable. NT