U.S. Housing Starts Inch Up To Nearly Eight-Year High

(RTTNews) - While the Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing that housing starts in the U.S. edged up to a nearly eight-year high in July, the report also showed a sharp drop in building permits.

The report said housing starts inched up by 0.2 percent to an annual rate of 1.206 million in July from the revised June estimate of 1.204 million.

Economists had expected housing starts to climb to a rate of 1.180 million from the 1.174 million originally reported for the previous month.

With the modest increase, housing starts rose to their highest annual rate since reaching 1.264 million in October of 2007.

Meanwhile, the report said building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, plunged 16.3 percent to an annual rate of 1.119 million in July after jumping to an eight-year high of 1.337 million in June.

Building permits had been expected to pull back to a rate of 1.230 million from the 1.343 million originally reported for the previous month, reflecting an 8.4 percent decrease.