Housing Starts Slow on Wet Weather

- Housing Starts for August fell to 2009K versus estimates of 2025K and 2035K in July.
- Building Permits for August fell to 2124K versus estimates of 2130K and 2171K in July.

BOTTOM LINE: US housing starts fel 1.3% last month, keeping construction on pace to surpass last year’s total, which was the highest since 1978, Bloomberg reported. Weather may have held down starts to an extent. August was the ninth-wettest month on record in the South and the sixth-wetting in the Central US. Starts fell 5.2% in the Midwest, 4.1% in the Northeast and 6.6% in the South. Starts rose 13% in the West. Starts in September will be negatively impacted by Hurricane Katrina.