US: Housing Starts rose by 1.4% in December, Building Permits shot up by 9.1%

Building Permits shot higher by 9.1% MoM in December to 1.873M over the last 12-months, whilst Housing Starts rose 1.4% MoM to 1.702M over the last 12-months, according to the latest data published jointly by the US Census Bureau and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development on Wednesday. Median economist forecasts had been expecting the December data to show that there had been 1.701M Building Permits in the past 12-months and 1.65M Housing Starts, so the latest numbers were significantly better than expected.