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U.S. New Home Starts Drop to Lowest Sing Aug. 2012 in June as Rain Soaks Projects

July 17, 2013 9:10 AM EDT
Homebuilders are on watch Wednesday following data that new U.S. housing starts showed an unexpected drop last month.

The U.S. Commerce Department said today that new starts came in at an annualized rate of 836,000 units in June, from a revised 928,000 units start in May and expectations calling for 960,000 units. It was the lowest read since August 2012.

Single-family home builds fell 0.8 percent to an annualized rate of 591,000 units, from 596,000 units in May. Multifamily starts dropped 26.2 percent to a rate of 245,000 units.

The Northeast led the slump with a 12.1 percent slip in starts.

Analysts think wetter than usual weather throughout much of the U.S. last month.

Building permits for June rose 7.5 percent for an annualized rate of 911,000, versus expectations calling for a read of one million.

On watch today is the SPDR S&P Homebuilders (NYSE: XHB) ETF, along with public companies like Toll Bros. (NYSE: TOL), Lennar (NYSE: LEN), DR Horton (NYSE: DHI), KB Home (NYSE: KBH), PulteGroup (NYSE: PHM), and Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE: HOV).


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