According to the latest figures out of the US their housing starts continued to accelerate in December, surging 12.1 per cent to 954,000 units at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR). This is the fastest pace of new home construction since June 2008 which is good news for the whole of North America.
Building permit data, a proxy for future housing starts, edged higher as well to 903,000 (SAAR).
Surging US housing starts suggest that residential investment provided a significant contribution to US economic growth for the first time since 2005. This trend, if sustained, bodes well for BC economic growth, and in particular BC lumber exports in 2013.
Also it has been reported that the sales of Ford Trucks in the US are up which is another indication that construction is on the increase as their sales tend to go hand in hand with either upturns or downturns in the construction industry.
