It’s been a while since there’s been good news for housing, which makes this morning’s update on October’s housing starts especially welcome.
Privately owned housing starts in October rose 3% percent above the revised September estimate, the Census Bureau reported today. The increase, which is the first after three straight months of declines, was the biggest gain since February. As an added treat, the advance in housing starts were comfortably above the consensus forecast, according to TheStreet.com. In addition, the government revised September’s starts up a notch.
Alas, the housing correction (or should we say recession?) isn’t over. It’ll take more than one month in one data series to reverse the battered state of affairs that continues to roil the sector. Indeed, if we look at year-over-year trends, last month’s housing starts are more than 16% below the levels from October 2006.