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By Dean Seal
U.S. housing starts shot up well past economist estimates in May, driven by a jump in both single-family and multi-family construction. Here are the main takeaways from the Commerce Department’s report released Tuesday:
–Housing starts, a measure of U.S. homebuilding, rose 21.7% in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.631 million.
–Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal expected starts to slip 0.8% from last month to 1.39 million.
–Housing starts came in 5.7% above the same month a year earlier.
–The increase was driven by both single-family housing starts, which were up 18.5% on month, and multi-family projects, which were up 28.1% from April.
–April starts were downwardly revised to 1.34 million from 1.401 million initially estimated.
–Monthly housing starts data are volatile. May data came with a margin of error of 14.8 percentage points.
–Residential permits, which can hint at future home construction, rose 5.2% in May on month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.491 million. Economists expected permits to rise just 0.3% on month.
–Sentiment among home builders rose in June for the sixth consecutive month, data from the National Association of Home Builders showed Monday.
Write to Dean Seal at [email protected]
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