Housing starts and building permits for July 2022
- Prior 1.559M (weaker than the estimate of 1.580M) for housing starts and 1.685M for building permits (vs exp of 1.650M).
- Housing starts for July 1.446M vs 1.540M est. Prior month revised to 1.599M vs 1.559M previously reported.
- Building permits for July 1.674M vs 1.650M est. Prior month revised to 1.696M vs 1.685M previously reported
- housing starts fell -9.6% vs. +2.4% in June
- building permits fell -1.3% vs. +0.1% June
- single-family permits fell -4.3% to 928,000 while multi family permits rose 2.8% to 746,000
The housing starts data is the lowest since February 2021 when it came in at 1.42 million. Building permits are the lowest since October 2021
Yesterday the NAHB builders survey dipped below the 50 level to 49 for the first time since the pandemic shut down. A level below 50 is indicative of contraction vs expansion in the survey results.
Housing is continuing to suffer from affordability with high prices and high mortgage rates weighing on demand.
US stocks are a little lower after the reports. The Dow industrial average is down -41 points. The S&P is down around -8.25 points and the NASDAQ index is now down -34 points in premarket trading