| Jul 19, 2011 3:57PM Driven by a dramatic rise in multi-family construction, U.S. housing jumped unexpectedly to of an annualized rate of 629,000 housing units in June. This was an increase of 14.6 percent over May figures which were adjusted down by 11,000 units to 549,000. The +3.5 reported earlier as a May over April increase has now been revised to "unchanged." According to figures released Tuesday by the Census Bureau, multi-family starts increased by 30.4 percent in June to an annual rate of 176,000 units while... Jul 18, 2011 2:21PM Two press releases that came out on Monday may point to a new direction for the residential construction market and perhaps for housing policy. Home builders continue to have little optimism about the new home market according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) for July. The index, floating near its bottom for since October 2008, did rise two points to 15 but this only partially recouped the three point drop seen in June. The NAHB HPI is a composite...
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