American builders took out more residential construction permits in July than at any time in the past four years, a sign the market will continue to improve.
Applications, a proxy for future work, rose to an 812,000 annual rate, exceeding the highest estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg and the most since August 2008, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. Housing starts fell 1.1 percent to a 746,000 rate from June’s 754,000, which was the strongest pace in more than three years…Continue reading
