August Housing Starts

Housing starts increased to 598,000 for the month of August. Fortunately, the number was very low and continues to bounce along the bottom of a cliff as seen in the long term chart below going back to 1968.

The bad news was that the number was above 0.  With 12.5 months of inventory currently on the market not including the monsoon of shadow inventory on the bank's balance sheets, it would be beneficial for the country long term to shut down all residential construction across the board.