US housing starts rise a bit more slowly than expected in October
US housing starts grew a bit more slowly than anticipated last month, but the 'miss' versus consensus forecasts was tempered by the fact that a lead indicator for activity rose more strongly than had been expected.
According to the Department of Commerce, the annualised rate of US housing starts jumped by 3.8% month-on-month to reach 1.314m (consensus: 1.32m), pushing the year-on-year rate of increase to 8.7%.
Within the above, single-family housing starts grew by 2.0% over the month to reach an annualised pace of 936,000, while those for units in buildings with five or more units came in at 362,000.
Housing permits meanwhile, a key lead indicator for activity in the sector, grew by 5.0% versus September to reach an annualised pace of 1.391m (consensus: 1.385m), for year-on-year growth of 14.1%.