Housing starts climbed 6.3 percent to a 1.02 million annualized rate from a 957,000 pace in August, the Commerce Department reported today in Washington. The reading was in line with the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg which projected 1 million. Work increased on multifamily and one-family homes.
The drop in mortgage rates in recent weeks will probably underpin sales, giving builders reason to take on more projects. Sustained job gains that fuel faster wage growth would help give the market an additional boost that would include more first- time home buyers.
“The trend in starts continues to be up,” said David Berson, chief economist at Nationwide Insurance in Columbus, Ohio. “As the job market’s gotten better, as the mortgage rates have remained low and in the last week gone even lower, the underlying demand for single-family homes has improved.”
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- All PropertyCasualty360.com news coverage, best practices, and in-depth analysis.
- Educational webcasts, resources from industry leaders, and informative newsletters.
- Other award-winning websites including BenefitsPRO.com and ThinkAdvisor.com.
Already have an account? Sign In
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
