Housing starts jump in June

Despite sliding in May, new housing construction increased almost 24 percent during the month of June compared to 2011, according to the latest Residential Construction report released by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 760,00 in June 2011, 23.6 percent above June 2011’s 615,000, and beating the revised May estimates of 711,000 by more than 7 percent.

The government also authorized 19.3 percent more building permits in 2012, at the seasonally adjust annual rate of 755,000 in June, compared to 633,000 in 2011. Despite the growth, the number still fell short, down 3.7 percent from the revised May rates.

Housing completions did better than expected, up 2.6 percent over the revised estimate of 606,000 in June to 622,000 units. Housing completions were also up year-over-year by 7.2 percent from 580,000 in 2011.