Good news from the US housing market. Last month, the new Stars and Stripes construction sites surprisingly increased by 3,6% on an annual basis, to 894. This is the highest figure since July 2008. This was communicated by the US Department of Commerce.
Analysts had expected the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy to negatively affect the figure and therefore estimated a 4,2% drop to 825, after the 15% jump recorded in September.
However, the geographical differences are very marked. New construction starts were down 6,5% in the Northeast and 2,5% in the South, while they were up 8,9% in the Midwest and 17,2% in the West.
