Housing starts skyrocketed by 12.3% to a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.364 million units in August, according to the Commerce Department. This beats estimates by some economists who forecasted that housing starts in August would only be 1.2 million units.
The executive vice president of TIAA Bank in Jacksonville, Florida said, “A prolonged period of low mortgage rates has perhaps finally encouraged prospective homebuyers to get off the sidelines…”