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A surge in housing starts

9/19/2018
August housing starts jumped nearly 10% above an upwardly revised July figure, as the closely watched industry metric picked up the pace.

Privately-owned housing starts in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,282,000. This is 9.2% above the upwardly revised July estimate of 1,174,000 and is 9.4% above the August 2017 rate of 1,172,000.

[See the Commerce Department update here.]

Single-family housing starts in August were at a rate of 876,000; up 1.9% above the revised July figure of 860,000. The August rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 392,000.

Building permits also rose. In August, permits increased 5.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,229,000.

A blemish, however on the latest tally of residential construction falls in the category of single-family building permits. The August rate of 820,000 came in 6.1% below the prior month rate of 873,000.
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