Rentor Nation Returns? Multi-Family Starts, Permits Soared In January

Take your pick...

Good news - Building Permits (forward-looking) soared a stunning 10.4% MoM in January (massively better than expectations of a 1.4% drop)

Bad news - Housing Starts (current) plunged 6.0% MoM (much worse than the 0.5% drop expected), first drop since August.

Source: Bloomberg

The surge in permits was driven by multi-family (rental) permits (which soared 28.0%) while single-family permits rose 3.8%...

On the Starts side, single-family dropped 6.0% after December's surge while multi-family (rental) starts jumped 16.2%...

Finally, we note that Despite the euphoria in the housing market, we note that Total Housing Starts are actually down 2.3% YoY...

Source: Bloomberg

Led by a plunge in multi-family starts...

Source: Bloomberg