The Good News in Today’s Housing Starts Report

If you just read the headline in today’s Commerce Report for housing starts it looks bad.  New housing starts were down 2.8%.  This is usually an indication that builders are seeing a slowing market and cut back on new construction.  But let’s look a little deeper.  The reason overall starts were down is that multi-family (apartments) construction is down. But single family home starts were up and building permits for future single family home were up 4.8%.   We’re in a slow growth economy and this report supports that and let’s hope we continue to see a trend of fewer multi-family homes and more single family which have a more significant impact on the economy.  The Wall Street Journal has a great article here if you’d like more info.