Following April's hope-filled spike in Housing Starts and Building Permits SAAR (and the exuberant jerk to 10 year highs in NAHB Sentiment), May data is more mixed. Housing Starts plunged 11.1% MoM (against expectations of a 4% drop) missing for the 3rd of last 4 months. Permits, on the other hand, spiked 11.8% (againmst expectations of a 3.5% drop) smashing the hope to its highest since August 2007. So - in summary - hope is soaring, reality is falling and all the hope is based on America as 'rental nation' with a record number of multi-family unit permits.
[6]
Starts longer-term...
As Permits soar...
[7]
Take a look at this chart again! notice anything similar? The desperate spike in hope that occurred in early 2008 (that prompted calls for recovery) appears to be echoing awkwardly!!
Charts: Bloomberg
