Housing starts rose in July

New-home construction in the U.S. rose in July on strength in single-family projects amid limited supply in the resale market.

Residential starts increased 3.9% last month to a 1.45 million annualized rate, according to government data released Wednesday, matching the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Single-family home building rose 6.7%.

Applications to build, a proxy for future construction, ticked up 0.1% to an annualized pace of 1.44 million units. Permits to build one-family homes rose to the highest in more than a year.

Homebuilders are working around-the-clock to break ground as limited availability in the resale market continues to tilt prospective buyers toward new construction.

Factories bump July production

U.S. factory production rose in July for the first time in three months, boosted by a surge in motor-vehicle output that helped manufacturing to stabilize.

Output increased 0.5% from June, erasing the prior month’s decline, Federal Reserve data showed Wednesday.

Total industrial production, which includes mining and utilities, jumped 1%, the most since the start of the year.

Factory production was led by a 5.2% surge in motor-vehicle output.

The annualized rate of car assemblies increased to 11.87 million units, the fastest rate since the end of 2018.

From wire reports