U.S. housing starts climb more than expected in August

The Commerce Department reported on Wednesday the building permits issued for privately owned housing units climbed by 7.7 percent m-o-m in August to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.419 million (the highest level since May 2007), while housing starts surged by 12.3 percent m-o-m to an annual rate 1.364 million (the highest level since June 2007).

Economists had forecast housing starts advancing to a pace of 1.250 million units last month and building permits falling to a pace of 1.300 million units.

Data for July was revised to show homebuilding dropping to a pace of 1.215 million units, instead of decreasing at a rate of 1.191 million units as previously reported.

According to the report, permits for single-family homes, the largest segment of the market, rose 4.5 percent m-o-m at 866,000 in August, while approvals for the multi-family homes segment surged 13.3 percent m-o-m to a 553,000 unit-rate.

In the meantime, groundbreaking on single-family homes rose 4.4 percent m-o-m to a rate of 919,000 units in August (the highest level since January), while housing starts for the multi-family jumped 32.8 percent m-o-m to a 445,000-unit pace.