Drop in housing starts not helping low inventory

Lacklustre housing starts, which dropped for the third month in a row in May, will do nothing to ease the very low levels of inventory. In turn, low inventory is holding back search and sales activity. Even with jobs being created at a decent pace, and credit conditions easing, first-time buyers are being frustrated by a lack of affordable single-family homes for sale. With competition among buyers fierce, annual house price inflation is edging up.