June single-family starts bounce back

Total housing starts bounced back in June after a weak May, increasing 8.3 percent to a 1.215 million seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to joint data released from the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Housing and Urban Development. 

Monthly increases were recorded for both single-family and multifamily development, according to a news release from the National Association of Home Builders.

Single-family starts moved forward, increasing to an 849,000 annual rate in June, up 8 percent year-to-date compared to 2016. Single-family permits also were up 4 percent in June, up almost 11 percent higher compared to last year, according to the release. 

As measured on a three-month moving average, the data is consistent with recent trends in the NAHB measure of single-family builder confidence and forecast of construction growth in 2017. 

After five consecutive months of decline, multifamily starts also increased 13 percent in June, but are down 5 percent compared to the same month last year. This mirrors the NAHB forecast expecting a small decline in multifamily construction in 2017.

For the month of June, 57% of homes under construction were multifamily, roughly 610,000 nationwide. The multifamily count is almost 5 percent higher than a year ago. 

[[In-content Ad]]