Housing Starts Dropped Last Month

The S&P 500 is up again today. This could be the fifth up day in a row. The index is now above 4,500, and we’re not far from our all-time high close of 4,536.95 from September 2.

Lots of earnings are coming in today. Philip Morris (PM), Procter & Gamble (PG) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) all beat estimates. Netflix (NFLX) is due to report after the close. Wall Street expects $2.56 per share.

This morning’s report on housing starts shows that housing starts fell to a one-year low. Starts dropped by 1.6% to 1.56 million. That’s the annualized rate. Wall Street had been expecting 1.62 million.

Permits to build fell by 7.7%. That’s the biggest drop since February. The backlog of homes to build is near a 15-year high.

From Barron’s:

Supply chain disruptions and shortages aren’t particularly new for the residential real estate industry. When polled by the National Association of Home Builders in May, industry professionals reported widespread shortages across an assortment of building materials and supplies, including appliances, lumber, and wiring. Several home builders said last month that supply chain issues had cut into sales or deliveries, while Zillow said Monday it would pause home purchases through its Zillow Offers program due in part to a renovations backlog.

Posted by on October 19th, 2021 at 10:52 am


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