May US housing starts miss forecasts

Activity in the US housing market cooled sharply last month.

Homebuilders in the US broke ground on 5.5% fewer homes in May, with starts running at an annualised pace of 1.092, according to the Department of Commerce.

Versus the same month one year ago, starts were down by 2.4% while permits were 0.8% lower.

In parallel, building permits, a lead indicator for starts, slipped by 4.9% on the month to hit 1.168m

Economists had expected housing starts to rise to 1.223m, alongside a gain in permits to 1.25m.

Single-family starts, the most carefully tracked component, decreased by 3.9% month-on-month to reach 826,000.

Starts were weakest in the Midwest and South, were they fell by 9.2% and 8.8%, respectively.