Sales of new homes year-to-date are up 6.4% sending inventories down a little bit to a 5.7 month's supply. The monthly change was +7.1 nationally while the West registered a 16.5% gain and the South saw a 6.0% increase. The Northeast and the Midwest were both off month-to-month: -5.9% and -3.0% respectively.

 
Residential building permits had a 7.7% monthly rise, but the West fell 7.8% due to weakness in the multifamily sector. The South gained 11.0%, the Midwest 14.5% but the Northeast outpaced them all with growth of 26.9%.

Another good performance was turned in nationally month-to-month in housing starts, +12.3%, and in the Northeast, +30.5%. The Midwest was up 15.4% and the South 14.9%, however the West had no change.

And in housing completions, the nation saw a monthly increase of 2.4% thanks in large part to a 39.0% rise in the Northeast along with 11.0% growth in the West. But loses of 2.0% and 5.9% in the Midwest and South respectively tempered the final outcome.