REPEAT:MNI DATA ANALYSIS:US Nov Housing Starts Rise To 1.297M>

Repeats Story Initially Transmitted at 13:30 GMT Dec 19/08:30 EST Dec 19

--November Building Permits Down 1.4% To 1.298 Mln SAAR, Still Strong

--3Q Current Account -$100.6b vs -$124.4b in 2Q; Smallest Since 3Q 2014

By Kevin Kastner, Sara Haire and Holly Stokes

     WASHINGTON (MNI) - The pace of housing starts posted a surprise 

3.3% gain to a 1.297 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in 

November, well ahead of expectations for a 1.250 million pace and adding 

to the post-hurricane October surge, data reported by the Commerce 

Department Tuesday morning showed. 

     This jump put starts at their strongest pace since October 2016. 

There were mixed revisions to the previous two months. 

     Housing starts jumped 11.1% in the South, adding to the 

post-hurricane rebound in October and bringing the pace in the region to 

691,000, the strongest since August 2007. 

     Starts rose 19.0% in the West region, but fell by 39.6% in the 

Northeast and by 12.9% in the Midwest. 

     Housing starts of single-family homes rose by 5.3% in November, 

adding to a 6.1% rise in October. The rate of single-family starts, at 

930,000, was the strongest since September 2007. Starts of multi-family 

homes fell by 1.6% after a 14.1% October increase, based on an MNI 

calculation. 

     The pace of unadjusted starts stands 12.1% above their year ago, 

while the NAHB index for December surged to a reading of 74 from 69 in 

November when it was reported on Monday, suggesting home building should 

remain strong. 

     Housing starts averaged 1.277 million through the first two months 

of the fourth quarter compared with the 1.172 million third quarter 

average, a positive for residential fixed investment in the quarter. 

     Building permits fell 1.4% in the month, but homes permitted but 

not started rose 0.6%, so starts could see further increases in the near 

future. Single-family permits were up 1.4% while multi-family permits 

fell 6.4%. 

     Housing completions fell by 6.1% to a 1.116 million annual rate. 

However, homes under construction rose 1.0% in November due to the 

recent strong gains in starts, the outlook for new home supply in the 

next few months is sharply positive. 

     Also released on Tuesday, the third quarter current account deficit 

narrowed sharply to -$100.6 billion from -$124.4 billion in the previous 

quarter due to much smaller goods and services and secondary income 

gaps, as well as a wider primary income surplus. 

     The current account gap was the smallest since the third quarter of 

2014 and now stands at 2.1% of GDP, down from 2.6% in the second quarter 

and the smallest since the second quarter of 2014. 

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