By: JEFFRY BARTASH
The numbers: Construction on new houses increased by less than 1% in July, reflecting a recent slowdown in building that’s likely tied to higher mortgage rates and growing shortages of skilled craftsmen.
Housing starts edged up to an annual rate of 1.17 million last month from a revised 1.16 million in June, the Commerce Department said Thursday.
Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected starts to total 1.27 million.
Permits to build new houses, meanwhile, rose 1.5% to a 1.31 million annual pace. While that’s still quite healthy, permits have also fallen off a recent post-recession peak.
What happened: Housing starts jumped 11.6% in the Midwest and 10.4% in the South, the fastest growing region in the U.S. New construction fell by 11% in the West and 4% in the Northeast.
Builders began work on new single-family homes at a 862,000 annual rate and structures with five or more units at a 303,000 clip.
The number of housing starts in July, however, was 1.4% lower compared to the same month in 2017.
For the year to date, starts are running 6.2% higher than the same period in 2017
Read More >> https://www.marketwatch.com/story/housing-starts-creep-higher-but-construction-slows-vs-a-year-ago-2018-08-16?siteid=rss
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