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CHART OF THE DAY: Housing starts decline 5.1%

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Housing starts declined 5.1% month over month in August, while forward-looking building permits held steady with a slight decline of .9%, the Commerce Department reported on Thursday. This brings the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts to 1.4 million and permits to nearly 1.5 million.

Fueled by low interest rates and the recent migration to the suburbs, housing has been one of the few industries to bounce back in somewhat of a V-shaped recovery from the economic shutdown. In April, at the height of COVID-19 restrictions, housing starts fell to 934,000, marking the first time they fell below 1 million since 2015. Since then, housing starts have steadily climbed back to long-term equilibrium levels of 1.5 million.

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About Troy Merkel

@troymerkel

Troy Merkel is a Partner and Real Estate Senior Analyst at RSM. He has 15 years of experience in audit and consulting, with a particular emphasis in real estate and financial services reporting, in accordance with US GAAP, IFRS, NCREIF PREA Reporting Standards and income tax basis. He is also an expert in accounting for asset acquisitions and complex leases and specializes in various tax-advantageous, in particular Opportunity Zones and government subsidized deal structures.

In 2018, Troy was selected as a senior analyst in RSM’s cutting edge Industry Eminence Program, which positions its senior analysts to understand, forecast and communicate economic, business and technology trends shaping the industries RSM serves. These senior analysts advise clients on conditions impacting middle market leaders. Troy’s focus is on the real estate industry.

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