US private housing starts plunge 12.3% in June

The US Census Bureau and the US Department of Housing along with the Urban Development announced new residential construction statistics on Wednesday.

Privately-owned housing starts reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.173 million starts in June, which is 12.3 percent lower than the revised May reading of 1.337 million, and 4.2 percent below the rate of 1.225 million estimated in the same month last year, according to the data.

Privately-owned housing units, authorised under building permits, also fell 2.2 percent to an adjusted annual rate of 1.273 million in the sixth month of 2018 from a month earlier.

Privately-owned housing completions nearly stabilised at an adjusted annual rate of 1.261 million completions last month, from the prior month’s revised estimate, but 2.2 percent higher than the figure registered in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, single-family housing unit figures rose 0.8 percent month-on-month to 850,000 units in June. Authorisations for five-or-more unit buildings recorded 387,000 last month, the data stated.

Single-family housing starts showed a drop of 9.1 percent to a rate of 858,000 in June, compared to the revised estimate of 944,000 starts in the month before.

In addition, the rate for units in buildings with five units or more were 304,000 starts during the same period.

The single-family housing finished units declined 2.3 percent to 862,000 in June, versus the revised rate of 882,000 in the prior month, while the number of completed buildings with five units or more totalled 393,000.

By 12:42 pm GMT, the US dollar index gained 0.29 percent to 95.2620.