US Housing Starts Rise in June

US housing starts rebounded in June as construction activity increased significantly, an indication demand for housing is on the rise.

The Commerce Department on Tuesday said housing starts rose 4.8 percent to 1.19 million units in June.

“Homebuilding continues to gradually recover from the housing bust that accompanied the Great Recession,” said PNC chief economist Stuart Hoffman. “Demand for new single-family homes is slowly but steadily improving.”

Although, housing starts for April and May were revised lower. Building permits rose 1.5 percent to 1.15 million units in June.

“Builders are building. But we have seemingly hit a lull and permit requests and construction activity are no longer accelerating sharply,” said Joel Naroff, a chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pennsylvania.

Single family homes which account for about two-thirds of new construction increased 4.4 percent in June to 778,000, while starts for multifamily buildings with five or more units rose 1.6 percent to 392,000 in June from May.

Overall, housing market continues to support growth in the second half of the year, even though housing starts were 2 percent lower year-on-year and permits down 13.6 percent from a year ago. The housing industry is improving.