Economic Collapse

[basserdan]

Hi wow...
Perhaps the Minnesota 5 state area isn't representitive of the rest of our country. Fwiw, lotsa construction going on down here in Florida.

Housing starts jump as construction, home buying get back on track

By Andrea Riquier
Published: July 19, 2017 9:46 a.m. ET

May’s figures were a head fake and June’s were even better


A worker climbs on the roof of a home under construction in Phoenix, Arizona.

Builders broke ground on more homes in June, and figures from a prior month were revised up, allaying fears that the housing recovery had stumbled in the spring.

Housing starts were at a 1.22 million seasonally adjusted annual rate, the Commerce Department said Wednesday, 8.3% higher than in May and 2.1% higher for the year. The MarketWatch consensus of economists called for a 1.16 million annual pace.

May’s data, originally reported as the lowest in eight months, was revised up to a 1.12 million annual pace.

Builders also applied for more permits to construct homes, a good signal of increased activity ahead. Permits, at a pace of 1.25 million, rose 7.4% for the month and 5.1% for the year. Single-family starts were 6.3% higher than in May, a sign builders are prioritizing construction of homes to be purchased, rather than rented.

In a note to clients, Morgan Stanley economist Ted Wieseman called the data a “strong report” and said it boosted the residential investment component of GDP.

“Single-family housing starts have been running way too low,” Wiesman added, “as inventories of home available for sale have fallen to what the National Association of Realtors called ‘astoundingly low’ levels during the spring selling season. Labor shortages, land shortages, regulatory bottlenecks, and, recently, rising lumber costs with the Canadian lumber tariffs have restrained new construction.

Survey data from an industry group released Tuesday showed builders feeling somewhat less confident than they did just after the election. Rising input costs, in part due to those tariffs, have pressured margins. But buyer demand remains sturdy and builder stocks are booming: shares of LGI Homes, Inc., have gained 48% in the year to date, while D.R. Horton, Inc., is up 33%.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/housing-starts-jump-as-construction-home-buying-get-back-on-track-2017-07-19