Tuesday, June 16, 2009

HOUSING STARTS AND PERMITS POST GAINS IN MAY

Nationwide housing starts rebounded in May from record lows in the previous month, posting a 17.2 percent gain to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 532,000 units, according to U.S. Commerce Department figures released today. While driven largely by a double-digit gain in the volatile multifamily sector, the uptick also reflected a substantial gain on the single-family side and applied consistently to all regions of the country.

Single-family housing starts gained 7.5 percent in May, breaking the 400,000 mark for the first time since November 2008 to reach a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 401,000 units. Meanwhile, starts in the much more volatile multifamily sector posted a 77 percent gain following a nearly equivalent decline in the previous month, for a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 124,000 units.

Both housing starts and permits were up across every region in May. Here in the West starts rose 28.6 percent and permits rose 3.8 percent.

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