U.S. housing starts continue rise in August

Washington, DC, United States (4E) – Despite the stalled economy, the housing market shows little sign of slowing down as construction on new homes in August increased by 2.3 per cent, driven by single-family home starts that grew at the fastest rate in more than two years indicating that the U.S. real estate market has not yet lost its momentum.

New construction rose to 750,000 on an annual basis, higher than July’s revised annual rate of 733,000, according to Commerce Department data released on Wednesday.

The report also showed that new construction permits, which also measures future demand, declined in August to 803,000 year or year, compared to July’s revised annual rate of 811,000. The number of issued permits in July is the highest since 2008 and the slight fall in August suggests that the sector could be flattening in the coming months.

The Commerce Department data also shows that construction of single-family houses increased by 5.5 per cent in August to 535,000, the fastest rate in more than two years. Permits issued for one-family homes construction jumped slightly by 0.2 per cent to 512,000 in August from the same period last year, the biggest improvement since March 2010.

Multi-dwelling units construction like townhouses and condominiums dropped in August to 208,000 on an annual rate, lower than July’s 214,000. The number of permits issued for projects that have at least five units declined in August by 3 per cent to 263,000.

Regions that saw increase in new construction are the Midwest (20.7 per cent) and the South (3.7 per cent), while regions that saw contraction are the West (4.3 per cent) and Northeast (12.6 per cent).

In a separate report by the National Association of Realtors released on Wednesday, it shows sales of existing homes in August jumped 7.8 per cent to 4.82 million from the same period in the previous year. The figure topped the 4.6 million units projected by Wall Street analysts.

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