Data on housing starts and building permits in the US for June is promising and bodes well for the growth of the US housing market.
The two figures published today by the US Consensus Bureau at 1.30pm GMT exceeded expected levels of growth.
The number of housing starts, which tracks the construction of new single-family homes, has risen from 1.135 to 1.189million. This figure exceeds expectations by 19.000 new homes. Building permits are also up from 1.138 to 1.153million.
The new stats give a positive outlook on US economic development and in particular the real estate industry.
This is likely to have a bullish effect on the USD. This movement is further supported by downwards pressure on the Euro after this morning’s ZEW indicators showed more pessimistic economic sentiment between European investors than expected.