September housing starts and building permits data

  • Prior was 1180K (revised to 1183K)
  • Down 4.7% on the month
  • Building permits 1215K vs 1245K expected
  • Prior building permits 1272K
  • Permits down 4.5% m/m

That's a sizeable drop in starts and permits. The initial reaction in the market was some small US dollar. The drop was spread evenly among single and multi-family starts but regionally it was highly skewed:

  • Northeast -9.2%
  • Midwest -20.2%
  • South -9.3%
  • West +15.7%

Overall, the housing starts chart is starting to look a tiny bit worrisome but it's hard to believe it will stay low with prices so healthy.