MNI DATA ANALYSIS: US Housing Starts Jump To 1.326m SAAR>

--January Building Permits +7.4% To 1.396 Mln SAAR

--January Import Prices Rise 1.0%, +0.4% Ex Fuels, Most Since March 2012

By Kevin Kastner, Sara Haire and Holly Stokes

     WASHINGTON (MNI) - The pace of housing starts surged by 9.7% to a 

1.326 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in January, well ahead of 

expectations for a 1.225 million rate and the strongest pace since 

October 2016, data reported by the Commerce Department Friday morning 

showed.  

     Housing starts rose by 45.5% in the Northeast, 9.3% in the large 

South region and 10.7% in the West region, to its highest level since 

December 2006, partially offset by a 10.2% decline in the Midwest.

     Housing starts of single-family homes rose by 3.7% in January after 

a 10.6% decline in the previous month. Starts of multi-family homes 

jumped 23.7% after a 2.8% gain in December, based on an MNI calculation. 

--OUTLOOK POSITIVE FOR FURTHER BUILDING

     Building permits rose 7.4% in the month to a 1.396 million rate, 

the strongest pace since June 2007. Homes permitted but not started rose 

0.6%. Single-family permits authorized fell 1.7%, while multi-family 

permits saw a 26.5% surge. As a result, start could rise further in the 

coming months. 

     Unadjusted starts rose 9.5% from their year ago level, a sign that 

home building remains on an upward trend. The NAHB index for January 

reported on Thursday was unchanged from December, but remained elevated. 

     The January housing starts pace was well ahead of the 1.256 

million fourth quarter average, while permits were up from the 1.306 

million fourth quarter average.

--IMPORT PRICES STRONG

     Also released on Friday, import prices rose 1.0% in January on a 

4.7% rise in fuel prices and a 0.4% rise for import prices outside of 

fuels, the strongest gain for that core series since March 2012. There 

were gains in all of the non-fuel categories except for a flat reading 

for consumer goods. 

     Import prices are now up 3.6% year/year, compared with a 3.2% 

year/year gain in December, while import prices ex. fuels are now up 

1.9% year/year, the strongest pace since March 2012. 

     Import prices from Canada jumped 2.5% in the month, while prices 

from Mexico rose 0.7% and prices from Japan rose 0.6%. However, prices 

from Germany fell a record 3.0% and prices from China were flat.

     Export prices were up 0.8% in January, led by a 0.9% rise in 

nonagricultural prices that offset a 0.1% decline in agricultural 

prices.

     ** MNI Washington Bureau (202) 371-2121 ** 

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