US building permits and housing starts for August
- Building permits 1419K versus 1300K estimate. Prior month 1317K
- Housing starts 1364K vs 1250K estimate. Prior month 1215K versus 1191K previously reported
- building permits and housing starts are the highest since 2007
- single-family housing starts 919K. Multifamily 445K
Both the building permits and housing starts comment stronger than expectations and at the highest levels in 12 years.
The revisions for housing starts was stronger than the lowish 1191K initial report from last month (revised to 1215K). The building permits is the highest since 2007 taking out the 1406K level from March 2018.
Building permits are thought to be a leading barometer for housing starts as well as new home sales.
