With new and pending sales tumbling and lumber prices down, yesterday’s drop in home-builders sentiment – from 10 year highs – appears justified entirely now as Housing Starts collapsed 11% in October to the weakest level since March. This is the biggest miss (and MoM drop) since Feb. Multi-family unit starts plunged 25.5% MoM as single-family dropped just 2.5%. Starts in The West and South plunged as the Midwest saw a 30.8% collapse in housing completions. Building Permits rose 4.1% after tumbling 4.8% in September but SAAR remains notably below the Q2 cycle peak levels (1.337mm) at around 1.15mm homes (with multi-family permits rising 6.8% MoM).
Weakest Starts print since March…
Driven by a plunge in Multi-Family units…
Is this where it is heading? If Permits are so bullish, why are lumber prices still in freefall?
Charts: bloomberg
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