Housing starts for July jump

Housing starts for July jumped to an annualized pace of 1.093 million units-up from 0.945 million units the prior month. July was up a sharp 15.7 percent (monthly), after dipping 4.0 percent in June. July's pace was the highest level since November 2013. Strength was led by the multifamily component which surged 28.9 percent after a 3.1 percent decline in June. But the single-family component showed health with an 8.3 percent rebound after falling 4.4 percent in June. According to building permits, momentum is building-but largely for the multifamily component. Permits jumped a monthly 8.1 percent to an annualized pace of 1.052 million units. For July, the multifamily component gained 21.5 percent while the single-family component edged up 0.9 percent.