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US home construction jumps in January, shifts to apartments

AFP, Washington
US home building surged in the first month of 2018, with a sharp rise in construction of apartments and as rebuilding continued in the stormdamaged South, according to government data released Friday.
The jump brought the pace of housing construction to a 15-month high, while new building permits, a sign of supply in the pipeline, hit a prehousing-crisis record, according to the Commerce Department data.
Total housing starts rose 9.7 percent in January to an annual rate of 1.3 million units, the highest level since October 2016 and the largest increase in 13 months, the report said.
That surpassed analyst forecasts, which had called for 1.2 million units.
The increase was driven by a 19.7 percent surge in apartment construction, while single-family homes started rose just 3.7 percent from December.
"The underlying story here is that housing construction is grinding slowly higher, and likely will continue to do so through mid-year, at least," Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics said in a research note.
"Higher mortgage rates are likely to become a problem later in the year."
Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors, cheered the data, since the increase in available housing will help hold down
home prices and rent.
In addition, "This boost in housing supply not only helps the economy, but may also help the Federal Reserve temper the pace of future short-term rate hikes," Yun said, since rising housing costs can drive inflation.
"Simply put, more housing supply means a lower inflation rate, and potentially a slower pace ofinterest rate increases by the Fed."
However, he noted that housing inventory is currently near historic lows.
The construction figures are subject to a high degree of uncertainty and most fell within broad margins of error. Officials caution that a trend may take as many as six months to appear.
Data on permits for projects in the works, which are more reliable, showed a 7.4 percent rise to 1.4 million units, the highest since June 2007. This was largely due to a sudden 25.4 percent spike in permits for multi-unit dwellings.
Permits in the single family home segment, in contrast, fell 1.7 percent.
Analysts say rising costs and scarce labor have slowed construction, leaving builders struggling to meet strong demand in the current economic recovery, causing prices to increase.
Construction in the fire-damaged West rose 10.7 percent, and increased 9.3 percent in the South, which was battered by back-to-back hurricanes in August and September.
Building in the Northeast, also mainly of apartments, jumped 45.5 percent but construction slowed 10.2 percent in the Midwest.