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U.S. housing starts likely to have decelerated in June

U.S. housing starts are likely to have slowed in June. In the prior month, housing starts had increased above expectations by 5 percent to a 1.35 million-unit rate. Single-family starts had risen 3.9 percent, while multifamily starts rose 7.5 percent. The bulk of new housing starts was seen in the Midwest, which rose 62.2 percent in May.

In the meantime, starts dropped 1.5 percent in the Northeast. The South, which typically accounts for around half of all new starts dropped 0.9 percent. Starts also dropped for the second straight month in the West, dropping 4.1 percent in May. Construction in the West continues to be quite solid, however, and rose 22.4 percent year-to-date.

Residential construction continued to be on solid ground and rose 8.9 percent on a year-to-date basis. But, most of May’s gain was in the Midwest, and building permits dropped 1.2 percent for the month. Tightening supply constraints might be causing delays for smaller homebuilders. According to a Wells Fargo research report, housing starts are not expected to be as strong in June.

At 19:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was bullish at 82.5517. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

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