US DATA: Oct housing starts +3.6% to 894k, another upside surprise, and
Commerce Dept says hurricane effects were minimal (no changes to data
collection, which did include data from affected areas; construction was
affected in only a small part of country for a few days). Permits -2.7%
to a still high 866k after a surge in Sept. This confirms strength.
1-fam starts -0.2% to 594k and multis +11.9% to 300k. By area, starts
were mixed: -6.5% in NE (ongoing softness) and -2.5% in South (backed
off after a Sept jump); but +8.9% in MW and +17.2% in West. Most of the
big moves were in key single families. Permits were down in the NE, W.
These data show continuing strength. Units completed jumped 14.5% to
772k in Oct, and starts now are up almost 42% YOY. But housing still has
a long ways to go to get these numbers back into the 1.2+ mln area that
is consistent with longer-term growth.