Housing Starts (New Home Construction)
June's Housing Starts report was posted at 8:30 AM ET this morning, revealing a 4.6% jump in new home groundbreakings. A secondary reading that tracks newly issued permits that are needed before future starts rose 0.2%. Both were stronger than expected. However, the increase in overall starts was fueled by multi-family projects such as apartments and condos. Single-family groundbreakings, which are much more relevant to the bond market and mortgage rates, fell by the same 4.6% last month. This is a sign of weakness in the relevant portion of the housing sector, allowing us to label the report favorable for mortgage pricing.