Quikrete Industry Dashboard: Starts and sales

The Quikrete Industry Dashboard presents a busy week of metrics. Here’s the rundown:

• Total housing starts: up

• Single-family housing starts: down

• Existing home sales: down.

• Annual performance of stocks: up.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of total housing starts increased to 1.615 million in August. That’s up 3.9% from July, and up 17.4% from the same month a year ago.

The August stats from the U.S. Census Bureau showed the multi-family sector driving the monthly gains.

“Demand remains strong, but the market is facing increasing housing affordability issues after a run-up in new and existing home prices,” said National Association of Home Builders Chairman Chuck Fowke.

The median existing-home price for all housing types in August was $356,700, up 14.9% from August 2020 ($310,400), as prices increased in each region. This marks 114 straight months of year-over-year gains.

Elsewhere on the Dashboard, the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline increased 3 cents compared to the previous month, according to AAA. The Sept. 23 average was $3.19.

Coming next: The Conference Board will release the closely watched Consumer Confidence Index on the last Tuesday of the Month.