US housing starts hold up in November, permits do not

The pace of homebuilding activity held up better than expected last month, the latest government data revealed, but the finer details pointed to a further slowdown ahead.

According to the Department of Commerce, in seasonally adjusted terms, the annual rate of housing starts slipped from 1.434m in October to 1.427m for November.

Economists had been expecting an annualised rate of 1.404m for November, down from a preliminary estimate of 1.425m for October.

Housing permits on the other hand fell by 11.2% month-on-month to reach an annual clip of 1.342m (consensus: 1.497m).

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