US August housing starts bang in-line with estimates

US housing starts declined by 0.8% month-on-month in August to hit an annualised rate of 1.18m, according to the Department of Commerce.

That was exactly in-line with economists' forecasts.

Versus a year ago on the other hand, they were 1.4% higher.

To take note of as well, the prior month's reading was revised up from a pace of 1.155m to 1.190m.

Furthermore, weakness in August centred on the multi-family segment, while starts for single family homes increased by 1.6% on the month to reach 851,000.

Starts on homes with five or more units on the other hand fell 5.8% to 323,000.

Meanwhile, housing permits jumped by 5.7% over the month to reach 1.3m and were 8.3% higher year-on-year, with authorisations for single family units up by 1.5% on July's level.

In parallel, permits for homes with five or more units soared 22.8% to an annualised pace of 464,000.