By Ed Frankl


U.S. housing starts rose in June, indicating increased optimism in the market that mortgage rates will cool. Here are the main takeaways from the Commerce Department's report released Wednesday.

--Housing starts, a measure of U.S. home building, rose 3.0% in June to a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.353 million.

--Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected starts to increase to 1.30 million.

--Starts were 4.4% lower than the same month last year.

--May's starts were revised up to 1.314 million from a previously published figure of 1.277 million.

--Residential permits, which can hint at future home construction, rose by 3.4% to 1.446 million, above a forecast of 1.40 million.

--The data comes despite confidence among U.S. home builders weakening for a third month in a row in figures for July, according to a National Association of Home Builders survey released Tuesday.


Write to Ed Frankl at edward.frankl@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-17-24 0859ET