|
Housing starts soar 3.5%
|
 |
January 20, 1999: 9:16 a.m. ET
Home construction rate in December and all 1998 was highest since 1987
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The pace of home building in December was brisk, with construction starts on new houses and apartments rising steeply for the month, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
Housing starts -- the number of new housing units on which construction began during the month -- jumped 3.5 percent in December to an annualized rate of 1.72 million units. It was the highest level since March 1987, when housing starts reached an annual rate of 1.726 million units.
The data exceeded consensus estimates by 50,000 units. Economists had expected a rate of 1.67 million for the month. It also jumped by 58,000 over November's revised figure of 1.662 million units, when housing starts dropped a revised 1.8 percent.
For all 1998, starts totaled 1.616 million, the highest level since 1987, when 1.621 million units were built.
The December building spurt was concentrated in apartments, where starts shot ahead by 23 percent to 363,000 a year, recovering most of a 26.6 percent drop in November. Starts on single-family homes were down slightly last month, falling 0.7 percent to 1.357 million following a 5.9 percent gain in November.
Every region of the country except the South posted a higher rate of building starts in December. In the Midwest, starts were up 24.7 percent to 414,000 a year, and in the Northeast they rose 3.9 percent to 158,000. Starts in the West accelerated 3.1 percent to a rate of 428,000, but in the South they dropped 5.6 percent to 720,000 a year.
The brisk building pace showed little sign of losing steam as 1998 ended. Commerce said new applications for building permits were up 4 percent during December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.723 million, the highest application rate since 1.748 million in January 1990.
Soon after the numbers were released, the benchmark 30-year U.S. Treasury bond, which had opened sharply lower and had traded in negative territory since, showed little reaction. It was down 19/32 for a yield of 5.183 percent. 
-- from staff and wire reports
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
