Housing Starts, Building Permits Mixed for July, Gain Year-Over-Year

Builder Confidence Not Yet Baked Into Housing Starts

The new residential construction report for July finds housing starts and building permits are up year-over-year, but came in mixed on monthly forecasts.

Housing Starts

Privately‐owned housing starts came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,191,000, or 4.0% (±8.0) below the revised estimate of 1,241,000 for June. But that is still 0.6% (±8.2%) above the level in July 2018.

Single‐family housing starts came in at a rate of 876,000, up 1.3% (±11.8%) from the revised figure of 865,000 for June. The rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 303,000 in July.

Building Permits

Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,336,000, or 8.4% (±1.1%) higher than the revised rate of 1,232,000 in June. That’s also 1.5% (±1.4%) higher than the rate of 1,316,000 in July 2018.

Single‐family authorizations came in at a rate of 838,000, which 1.8% (±1.4%) higher than the revised 823,000 for June. Authorizations of units in buildings with five or more units came in at a rate of 453,000 in July.

Housing Completions

Privately‐owned housing completions soared in July, coming in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,250,000. That is up 7.2% (±11.4%) from the revised estimate of 1,166,000 in June and 6.3% (±12.0%) higher than the rate of 1,176,000 in July 2018.

Single‐family housing completions came in at a rate of 918,000, up 4.3% (±10.8%) from the revised rate of 880,000 in June. The July rate for units in buildings with five units or more came in at 321,000.

The new residential construction report comes just one day after the NAFB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) released on Thursday found builder confidence ticked slightly higher to 66 in August.