Housing starts, a measure of new-home construction, climbed to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.452 million in the month, beating market expectations of 1.448 million, according to data released Wednesday by the Census Bureau. “Buyers embraced new homes in the first half of this year as a welcome alternative to the massive shortage of existing homes,” Ratiu said. The slight increase in starts suggests builders have some optimism, she said, though it remains to be seen what future mortgage rate increases may mean for the market. “In many cases, even repurchasing their same home at today’s mortgage rates would be out of a typical buyer’s price range.”Mortgage rates are hovering around 7% and interested buyer traffic is slowing down for some builders. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, released Tuesday looks at current sales, buyer traffic and the outlook for sales of new construction homes over the next six months.

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Persons: George Ratiu, “ Buyers, ” Ratiu, “ Homebuilders, ”, “, eeking, Kelly Mangold, ” Mangold, Alicia Huey, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, LEN, Horton Organizations: DC CNN, Housing, Census, “, West, Real Estate Consulting, National Association of Home Builders Locations: Washington, Midwest, West, Wells Fargo, Lennar