Home construction increased last month and applications for building permits also grew. But the gains were driven mainly by apartment and condominium construction, not the much larger single-family homes sector.Below we see that "jump".
Construction of new homes and apartments rose 10.5 percent in August from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 598,000, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That's the highest level since April.
Pulling the figures up was a 32 percent monthly increase in the condominium and apartment market, a small portion of the market. Single-family homes, which represent about 80 percent of the market, grew more than 4 percent.
And now... a little perspective.
Housing starts are up 25 percent from their bottom in April 2009, but are still down 74 percent from their peak in January 2006.New Home Starts Over the LONG Term
What's this all mean? Calculated Risk sums it up best:
As I've mentioned many times - this low level of starts is good news for the housing market longer term (there are too many housing units already), but bad news for the economy and employment short term.Source: Census
The report or complete study sees a long-term process increasing demand of apartment and condominium market. This special sector was more interesting for potential investors in this year as the sector of single-family homes.
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