The next housing checkup
The February U.S. housing starts number is scheduled for April 29 at 8:30 a.m. ET, and yes, we’re still talking about February data in late April — because economic data moves at the speed of government paperwork, not your group chat.
Why you should care
Housing starts are one of those old-school macro tells that can spill over into everything from homebuilders to lumber to mortgage-sensitive consumer spending. If starts come in below the 1.4 million estimate, that’s another nudge that higher borrowing costs are still crimping activity. If the number beats expectations, it suggests builders are hanging in there better than feared.
The investor angle
Here’s the quick read:
- Below estimate: bad vibes for homebuilder sentiment and a possible read-through to housing-adjacent stocks
- In line: boring, which is sometimes exactly what the market wants
- Above estimate: a sign the housing market still has some fight left in it
The prior reading was 1.487 million, so investors will be looking for whether the market is merely catching its breath or actually losing momentum.
Big picture: one data point won’t rewrite the housing story, but in a rate-sensitive world, even a sleepy government report can move the tape if it changes the “how bad is it really?” narrative.