US: Housing starts rose 12.3% in August to beat market estimate of 4.5%

• Housing starts beat the market expectation by a wide margin in August.
• Building permits continued to rise at a strong rate.
• US Dollar Index ignored the data as the focus remains on the FOMC.

According to the US Census Bureau's monthly New Residential Construction report, privately‐owned housing starts in August rose 12.3% to 1,364,000 compared to analysts' forecast for an increase of 4.5%.

Further details of the publication revealed that privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in August increased 7.7% to 1,419,000 following July's reading of +6.9%.

Despite the upbeat data, however, the US Dollar Index seems to be moving sideways below the 98.50 handle as investors stay on the sidelines ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcements.