Housing Starts— the number of new residential construction projects begun during the period— is set to report May ’18 this coming Tuesday (June 19th).
After slipping during the month of April, suffering a 3.7% (MoM) decline in new construction projects compared to the March ’18, the Estimize community predicts Housing Starts to fall another 1.3% (MoM) to 1,270,000 new projects in May ’18 report.
Despite the decline, Housing Starts in the Apr ’18 report were up 10.5% compared to the Apr ’17 report. Moreover, the Estimize Community expects a 16.3% rise in the May ’18 report compared to the May ’17 report, signaling strong upward growth in the economy.
Housing Starts are a prime indicator of economic health; however, economists predict such fast economic growth to result in incremental increases in interest rates. Typically, rising interest rates result in declining Housing Starts; however, it is yet to be seen how the Fed’s quarter-point increase— the first under new Chairman Jerome Powell— will affect Housing Starts numbers.
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