Housing starts fall 7%, but permits pick up the slack in March

Source: MarketWatch

Housing starts fall 7%, but permits pick up the slack in March

Published: Apr 18, 2017 10:11 a.m. ET

by Andrea Riquier

Builders broke ground on fewer homes in March, but ramped up applications for permits, as the housing recovery continued to grind forward in fits and starts.

Housing starts fell 6.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.22 million, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.* That was 9.2% higher than during the same period a year ago, but it missed the forecast of 1.24 million from MarketWatchs survey of economists.

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But housing permits jumped 3.6% to a 1.26 million rate, suggesting a stronger pace of starts may lie ahead. Permits were 17% higher than in March 2016.
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Many economists believe a stronger pace of single-family home construction is a sign of a sturdier housing market and an economy supportive of homeownership. Most apartments are built for rental, not purchase. In March, single-family homes under construction were the highest since September 2008.
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Andrea Riquier reports on housing from the Washington bureau of MarketWatch. Follow her on Twitter @ARiquier.
https://twitter.com/ARiquier

* https://www.census.gov/construction/nrc/pdf/newresconst.pdf

Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/housing-starts-fall-7-but-permits-pick-up-the-slack-in-march-2017-04-18