Housing continues its slow climb back to normal. The U.S. Census Bureau and the Commerce Department report building permits were up in May by 4 percent over April, though still down 47 percent from the year before.
Housing starts were up 17.2 percent last month, though down 45.2 percent from the year before.
The U.S. still has way too much unused housing, but hey, we got ahead of April. "The inventory overhang means any recovery in building will be very muted for an extended period, but at least the very worst is over," writes Ian Shepherdson of High Frequency Economics, who's usually first to land in the Planet Money inbox.
categories: Morning Report
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