New housing construction in the U.S. rebounded in August from an unexpectedly large dip in July, but failed to reach the levels expected by most economists.
According to figures released Wednesday by the Commerce Department new privately-owned housing starts came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 750,000, a 2.3 percent increase from revised July levels.
The increase comes in part because revisions showed July housing starts at a 733,000 rate rather than the 746,000 initially reported.
So while housing starts did rebound from July levels, the rate of new construction still fell notably below the 768,000 rate predicted by most economists.
New building permits, a leading indicator for housing starts, dropped somewhat in August, falling to a 803,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate, 1.0 percent below the revised July rate of 811,000. The July revision was a minor change from the 812,000 rate initially reported.
Most economists had expected building permits to fall even further to a rate of 802,000 or even lower.
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