US housing starts soar 3.9% in July

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - US housing starts soared 3.9% in July, compared to the previous month, according to data released Wednesday.

Housing starts, which measure the change in the number of new residential buildings beginning construction, stood at 1.45 million, according to the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The figure was much higher than expectations of a 2.7% gain, while in June, it showed a massive decline of 11.7.

Building permits, a key indicator of demand in the market, increased 0.1% to 1.44 million.

The market expectation was for the figure to show a decline of 1.7%.