Single-Family Starts Up in July Despite Overall Construction Drop

CNBC’s Diana Olick reports that single-family home starts were up 2% annually in July, despite new housing starts falling overall.

Single family housing starts jump despite an overall drop in home building from CNBC.

“The headline housing number was lower because of multifamily, which is very volatile,” Olick told CNBC’s The Exchange. “So I want to focus on single family, because it’s key in this falling rate environment.”

“Those starts were up 1% for the month and 2% annually,” Olick explains. “Single family starts in the first half of this year were down 6% compared with the first half of last year. So any gains in this month we’re seeing are pretty good, especially given how low the supply of all homes for sale is right now.

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