Housing starts offer ray of sunshine

Housing starts grew 0.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 610,000 in September, which included a 4.4% rise in single-family starts to 403,000.

Building permits, which provide a glimpse of how the industry is expected to fare, fell 5.6% to an annualized rate of 539,000 units.  But weakness was primarily in the volatile multi-family category, as single-family permits increased 0.5% to 405,000.



Single-family permits hit bottom over a year ago and began a slow climb before turning over and beginning a five-month descent that began in April.

It does appear that single-family starts may be bottoming once again, as builder confidence did improve in October.  Still, many of headwinds that have been buffeting the new home market have yet to abate.