US housing starts surge in August

US housing starts surged 9.6% month-on-month in August to an annualised rate of 1.35m, according to the Census Bureau, beating market expectations for a reading of 1.31m.

Housing starts rebounded from an almost 7% decline in the previous month to register the sharpest monthly increase seen in nine months, with starts for single-family homes up 15.8% at 992,000, more than offsetting a 6.7% decrease in starts of homes with five or more units to 333,000.

Building permits rose by 4.9% to 1.47m, the highest reading seen in five months and beating expectations for a print of 1.41m.

Approvals of units in buildings with five units or more advanced by 8.4% to 451,000 and single-family authorisations went up by 2.8% to 967,000.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com