Census Bureau monthly report on building permits 


				(Fondations Laid)    (On market for sale) 
Building Permit authorized ---> Housing starts ---> Housing Completion 
Permit --> Starts --> Completion
Leading Indicator ---> Coincident Indicator ---> Laggin Indicator 

Building permits # tells us 

- Wheter or not developers are bullish/bearish on the prospect of future home sales. It coest between 500-1000$ per home to make application, thus the number is the expectation of a future sale.

- The Demand for housing from the US consumer. This may **Lead** to change in Consumer Sentiment & Consumer Spending.

- The supply for loans. Developers in the US do not Finance project with 100% equity/cash they use a mix of equity/cash/debt. Also the US consumer does not buy Houses for cash, they buy them with debt(mortgage). Therefore the building permit number give us insight into the liquidity and health of the US lending environement i.e. the health of the Banking Sector.

The BPR number aka "the willingness of bank to lend $ index" is the best indice for the health of the US debt market. 
The number forecast GDP growth and can give us ideas for trades in Homebuilders, Bank, Furniture, Timber, Steel, Chemical & Paint and anything related to the Housing Sector.

Economic Indicator that lag Completion, Starts and Permit include
- Pending Home Sales
- New Home sales
- Existing Home sales
- Case-Schiller Index
- Housing Market Index

Source:
Census Bureau releases on the 18th working day of each month for previous month 

FRED : New Privately-Owned Housing Units Authorized in Permit-Issuing Places: Total Units (PERMIT)