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The Commerce report signals “a very healthy housing market that is clearly in high gear heading into the fourth quarter,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders.
Single-family starts rose 3.1% during the month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.52 million units and multifamily starts rose 4.5% to a 368,000-unit rate, their highest level since last August’s 381,000-unit pace.
September housing starts rose 15.1% in the Northeast, 8.1% in the Midwest and 4.2% in the West. They declined 1.3% in the South.
Seiders said that housing production this year “should easily surpass last year’s very healthy 1.71 million units and will likely approach the 1.8 million-unit mark, a level last seen in 1986.”
He added that single-family starts could equal or surpass the highs of the late 1970s.
Fall Construction Forecast Conference Coming Wednesday
Sign up for the Fall Construction Forecast Conference on Wednesday, Oct. 22, at the NAHB National Housing Center. Learn what's on the horizon for the housing industry at this semi-annual gathering of the country's premier economists and finance experts. Get the latest forecasts on housing starts, project budgets and other economic bellwethers of the housing industry. Click here for more information.
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