December Housing Starts
Hit by record cold temperatures housing starts posted lower than expected numbers in December.
According to the Commerce Department said housing starts fell by 4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 557,000 units. That’s 3000 units lower than the 580,000 units expected by analysts.
The number of permits authorized but not yet started rose 8.4 percent to 95,800 units and as I mentioned above, experts are blaming the cold weather for the delays.
New building permits however showed a 10.9 percent increase to 653,000 units last month, the highest since October 2008.
The inventory of new homes under construction also dropped 3.8 percent to a record low of 511,000 units last month.
