Housing Starts Jump in June

U.S. housing starts have skyrocketed at their strongest monthly increase in nearly four years. Privately owned housing starts in June jumped 17.3% to a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.186 million, according to the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Reuters states the percentage increase was the largest since October 2016, and economists predicted the rate to increase to 1.169 million. However, housing starts were 4% below the rate of June 2019. Single-family home starts were strong as well in June with a 17.2% increase.

Regionally, the West was the only area to see a decrease in home starts from May. All four regions—Northeast, Midwest, South and West—saw increases in single-family units in June, but total sales were down in all four regions from June 2019.

Meanwhile, building permits increased 2.1% in June, but they were down 2.5% from June 2019. Single-family building permits jumped nearly 12% in June. The Northeast and Midwest saw double-digit increases, but the South and West were slightly lower than the previous month.

-Michael Miller, managing editor