Steel Markets
February 21, 2016
Housing Data Points to Slow Growth
Written by Peter Wright
The article below is normally published to our Premium members as a supplement to the Executive write up. The author is Peter Wright who produces a number of articles for both our Premium and Executive level newsletters. Peter is also one of our Steel 101 instructors where he shares both his marketing and metallurgical knowledge with those attending our workshop.
Total housing starts in January were at an annual rate of 1,099,000 which was down from 1,143,000 in December. Since April 2015, total monthly starts annualized have ranged from 1,062,000 to 1,211,000 with the high month being June. In January the three month moving average (3MMA) was 1,139,000 which was up from 1,130,000 in December. The 3MMA has been really tight since last June ranging between 1,130,000 and 1,160,000. August 2015 at 1,160,000 had the highest 3MMA since the recession. Total starts are still on track to reach 1.4 million units annualized by the end of 2018 (Figure 1).
