|
Housing starts rise
|
 |
September 19, 2000: 9:18 a.m. ET
August housing starts hit annual rate of 1.53M, first gain since April
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Housing starts rose slightly in August, the Commerce Department said Tuesday, the first rise since April and just below consensus expectations.
The annual rate edged up 0.3 percent from July to 1.531 million units, slightly under consensus expectations of 1.54 million units compiled by Briefing.com.
Housing starts for July were revised up to 1.526 million from 1.512 million.
Housing starts, or the beginning of construction on residential units, are an important predictor of consumer purchasing, due to the need to furnish new houses with appliances and furniture.
"On a year-on-year basis, before this number was released, housing starts are down 11 percent," said Kathleen Camilli, chief economist at Tucker Anthony. "So you can see they've gently rolled over, showing higher interest rates are taking their toll on some parts of the housing industry."
The annual rate of housing starts has been falling since April, with the high for the year at 1.822 million in February.
For the first eight months of the year 1.1 million housing units were started, down 3 percent from the same period in 1999.
Building permits fell to an annual rate of 1.47 million in August, down 2.8 percent from the revised July rate of 1.51 million and the lowest since December 1997. Briefing.com expected an annual rate of 1.51 million. 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
