Housing Starts (New Home Construction)
In economic news, July’s Housing Starts was posted at 8:30 AM ET and revealed that new home groundbreakings fell 9.6% last month to reach their lowest level since February 2021. Single-family home starts that affect mortgage rates more than multi-family figures, dropped 10.1% to touch their weakest level since June 2020. Even a secondary reading that tracks newly issued permits, giving us an idea of future groundbreakings, fell to a 10-month low. These figures point towards a weakening housing sector, particularly the new home portion. Therefore, we can label the report as favorable for bonds and mortgage rates.