MNI DATA ANALYSIS: US August Starts Pace Rises To 1.282m SAAR>

--August Building Permits Fall 5.7% To 1.229m SAAR

--July Starts Revised Up To 1.174m From Previous 1.168m

By Kevin Kastner, Shikha Dave, and Harrison Clarke

     WASHINGTON (MNI) - The pace of housing starts rose by 9.2% to a 

1.282 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in August, above 

expectations for a 1.240 million rate due to increases in multi-family 

units and following upward revisions to June and July starts, data 

reported by the Commerce Department Wednesday morning showed. 

     Housing starts were flat in the Northeast region, while starts rose 

9.1% in the Midwest, 6.5% in the South, and 19.1% in the West. 

     Housing starts of single-family homes rose by 1.9% in August after 

a 1.1% increase in the previous month, while multi-family starts rose 

significantly by 29.3% in August, based on an MNI calculation. This 

followed a 3.7% decline in the previous month. 

--BUILDING PERMITS DIP

     Building permits fell by 5.7% in the month to a 1.229 million rate 

after rising to 1.303 million in July. This fall was driven by declines 

in both single and multi-family homes. Homes permitted but not started 

declined 2.4% in August with single-family homes down 1.1%. 

     As a result, starts could see declines in the coming months. 

Single-family permits authorized fell by 6.1%, and multi-family permits 

were down 4.9%. Additionally, the NAHB index for August reported on 

Tuesday showed no change in the high builder confidence, remaining at 67 

for the month. 

     The housing starts average pace for the third quarter was 1.228 

million, down from the 1.261 million second quarter average after all 

revisions were included. The third quarter permits pace, at 1.266 

million, was down from the 1.319 million second quarter average. 

     Homes under construction were up 0.8% and completions were up 

2.5%, suggesting increasing new home supply in the near term. 

--CURRENT ACCOUNT NARROWS

     Also released on Wednesday, the current account deficit narrowed to 

$101.5 billion in the second quarter from $121.7 billion in the first 

quarter, smaller than the $103.0 billion gap expected and due primarily 

to a $20.2 billion narrowing in the goods and services gap. The second 

quarter current account gap was the smallest since $99.6 billion in the 

fourth quarter of 2015. 

     The primary income surplus narrowed by $0.3 billion and the 

secondary income deficit narrowed by $0.4b, roughly offsetting factors. 

     The second quarter current account gap was 2.0% of GDP, compared to 

2.4% in the first quarter, the smallest percentage since the third 

quarter of 2014. 

     ** MNI Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **

[TOPICS: MAUDS$,M$U$$$,MT$$$$,MAUDR$]