U.S. housing starts likely to have eased moderately in August

The U.S. housing starts might have eased moderately in August after recorded unexpected gains in June and July. Housing starts had gained more than 7 percent in that span. The rise in July was driven by an increase of 5 percent in multi-family starts. Meanwhile, groundbreaking activity in single-family homes had recorded an increase of 0.5 percent.

According to a Societe Generale research note, housing starts might have eased slightly to about 1.200 million units annualized. Permits for apartment buildings had increased 6.3 percent in the previous month and have gained 25 percent in the past four months.  However, permits for one-family homes dropped 3.7 percent. Still, the NAHB’s homebuilder index rose to 60 in August from 58, hinting that the groundbreaking activity might have held up in August, added Societe Generale.