Since then, however, the markets have been mollified by reassurances from the Fed that it intends to boost interest rates at a measured pace, and mortgage rates subsided a bit, he said. “This certainly bodes well for housing in the coming months.”
Single-family housing starts fell 9.5% in June to a pace of 1.489 million. This was a 1.1% drop from the pace of a year earlier, but for the first half of this year single-family production was up by 12.2%.
“While the June figure is a bit of a surprise, it is still quite strong by historical standards,” said Seiders. “In fact, we expect single-family starts to post an all-time high in 2004, surpassing last year’s record 1.499 million units.”
The pace of multifamily housing starts decreased 3.7% from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 313,000 units. This was down 9.3% from a year earlier, but the sector was up by about 6% so far this year.
New home construction was down in all four regions of the country: 16.5% in the West, 11.5% in the Midwest, 3.5% in the Northeast and 3.1% in the South.
The backlog of unused building permits rose substantially in June, particularly in the single-family sector, as builders reassessed the financial market climate, Seiders noted. “This development should be a positive factor for housing starts in July.”
Mark Your Calendar for NAHB's Fall Construction Forecast Conference
Get the latest forecasts on housing starts, project budgets and other economic bellwethers of the housing industry at NAHB's Fall Construction Forecast Conference at the National Housing Center in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 27. Click here for more information.
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