Housing Starts
Sometimes, you need to look deeper than the headlines to get the news that matters. This basic truth's latest example comes from the July Housing Starts data, as published by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Single-family Housing Starts eased lower last month, falling by 0.7 percent from May, or 3,000 units nationwide.
Single-family housing starts plummeted to a one-year low in May, just 30 days after soaring to a 20-month high. It's no wonder home builders are confused.
A Housing Start is a new home on which construction has started and, over the last 6 months, home builders are averaging one half-million starts per month. This marks the highest 6-month average since 2008 and a reading one-fifth percent better from 12 months ago. Revisions to prior data have all been higher, too.
Single-family Housing Starts idled last month, dropping just 3,000 units from the month prior, or 0.2%. According to the Commerce Department's report, February marked the 8th straight month in which Housing Starts straddled the half-million marker, dating back to June 2009.
Sometimes, headlines for housing can be misleading and this week gave us a terrific example. On Wednesday, the Commerce Department released its Housing Starts data for January 2010. The data showed starts at a 6-month high. The real story is something different.