Housing Starts Hit Five-Month High

Updated: July 19, 2011 | 10:54 a.m.
July 19, 2011 | 10:10 a.m.

A bank owned home that has a foreclosure notice taped to the front door in the Spring Valley area in Las Vegas on October 15, 2010. Foreclosures have evolved into a vast industry since the start of the economic crunch as Americans faced massive debts, with the number of mortgage defaults soaring from an annual average of one percent before 2008 to 10 percent today. In 2010, more than three million foreclosures were expected to take place in the United States, figures show, and documentation problems might exist in 80 percent of them. Las Vegas home prices continue to fall as the city continues to be among the worst performers in the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price report which covers the 20 biggest U.S. property markets. In the past year Las Vegas property prices fell 12 percent against the 20-city market average of a of 2.3 percent increase. (MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)

Housing, one of the persistent drags on the United States’ economic recovery, showed a sign of revival on Tuesday.

Housing starts hit a five-month high in June, according to data released by the Commerce Department. Construction on 629,000 privately owned homes began at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, up 14.6 percent from May’s revised 549,000 and 16.7 percent higher than the 539,000 homes started in June 2010.

The consensus was for a much smaller increase to 575,000, according to Bloomberg. The unexpected jump reflects a boom in construction of multifamily homes with five units or more, which climbed more than any other category, increasing 31.8 percent from May and 104.8 percent from the previous June.

Building permits, which indicate future construction, rose 2.5 percent from the previous month.

Get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox. Sign up for National Journal's morning alert, Wake-Up Call, and afternoon newsletter, The Edge. Subscribe here.