Housing Starts

Housing Starts were down 4% in the month of July, which was worse than expectations. But the decline was all in multi-family starts. Single-family starts were actually up 1.3% and are up 2% year over year, which is really what’s most important for the housing market. Permits, which are a good forward looking indicator, showed some real strength. They were up 7.2% from June, with single-family permits up 4.3%.