Dive Brief:
- October housing starts tumbled 11% to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.06 million units, the lowest it's been since March, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday.
- Single-family home starts dipped 2.4%, while multifamily units, including apartments and condominiums, sank 25.1%.
- New applications for building permits grew 4.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.15 million. All regions, except the Northeast saw single-family permits increase to their highest level since December 2007.
Dive Insight:
After September's surge, a decline was expected. But, because October continues a seventh-month long streak of starts above 1 million units, market recovery remains intact. Seven months is the longest stretch since 2007. A Wall Street Journal survey of economists predicted October housing starts to reach 1.16 million, and building permits of 1.14 million.
Starts rose a seasonally adjusted 10.2% in the Northeast, 15% in the Midwest, but fell 18.6% in the South and 16.2% in the West.
Even the drop in homebuilder confidence does not dampen the overall recovery mode of the market, though many are waiting to see what impact all the reports will have on the Fed's coming interest rate hike decision during its December meeting.
