June housing starts up 9.1 pct; NY code cited
Home building projects started in June surprisingly rose 9.1 percent due chiefly to a change in New York City building codes that, if it were ignored, would have seen starts decrease by 4.0 percent, a government report said on Thursday.
The Commerce Department said housing starts set an annual pace of 1.066 million units in June, the highest since February. Economists polled ahead of the report were expecting a 960,000 unit rate.
New York City enacted a new set of construction codes effective July 1, that largely explained an 11.6 percent increase in building permits and the starts number, the government said.
Excluding multifamily data in the Northeast, the government said, there was a 0.7 percent increase in permits and a 4.0 percent decrease in housing starts in June.
Building permits climbed to 1.091 million, higher than the 960,000 expected by economists.
U.S pay day loans. stock futures were slightly higher on the data while the U.S. dollar was firmer against the euro. Prices for U.S. Treasury bonds fell.
JOBLESS CLAIMS RISE
In a separate report, the number workers filing new claims for jobless benefits rose by a less-than-expected 18,000 last week.