Fitch Ratings offers analysis on low housing starts

Fitch Ratings has offered up an analysis of June's low housing starts figures, postulating that sudden drop of 9.9% is just a symptom of the "fits and starts" modality of the housing recovery.

Though the drop was mainly spearheaded by a 26.7% drop in multifamily starts, Fitch highlighted that multifamily figures have been performing hairpin turns for the past several months.

"Multifamily numbers are often extremely volatile month over month, and June data were no different," said a company statement. "These are driven by both the number of buildings started and how many units are in each of these structures."

Single-family starts fared significantly better at -0.8%, though they were up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis.

"We continue to believe that still-attractive home prices, low mortgage rates and a rise in nominal incomes are resulting in superior affordability and valuations," continued the statement. "The new housing market is still in a period of recovery, and we expect realized demand is and will continue to be tempered by widespread negative equity, challenging mortgage qualification standards, lot shortages and excess supply due to foreclosures in certain markets."