Econ Housing Starts

{
  "data": {
    "fred_id": "HOUST",
    "frequency": "Monthly",
    "latest_print": {
      "first_release_value": 1427,
      "first_released_on": "2026-07-17",
      "headline": 1427,
      "headline_basis": "first release level",
      "headline_units": "thousands",
      "latest_value": 1427,
      "obs_date": "2026-06-01",
      "revised": false
    },
    "next_release_date": "2026-08-18",
    "recent": [
      {
        "obs_date": "2025-07-01",
        "value": 1432
      },
      {
        "obs_date": "2025-08-01",
        "value": 1291
      },
      {
        "obs_date": "2025-09-01",
        "value": 1319
      },
      {
        "obs_date": "2025-10-01",
        "value": 1273
      },
      {
        "obs_date": "2025-11-01",
        "value": 1319
      },
      {
        "obs_date": "2025-12-01",
        "value": 1378
      },
      {
        "obs_date": "2026-01-01",
        "value": 1385
      },
      {
        "obs_date": "2026-02-01",
        "value": 1346
      },
      {
        "obs_date": "2026-03-01",
        "value": 1522
      },
      {
        "obs_date": "2026-04-01",
        "value": 1414
      },
      {
        "obs_date": "2026-05-01",
        "value": 1199
      },
      {
        "obs_date": "2026-06-01",
        "value": 1427
      }
    ],
    "release_name": "New Residential Construction",
    "revisions": [
      {
        "first_value": 1177,
        "latest_value": 1199,
        "obs_date": "2026-05-01"
      },
      {
        "first_value": 1465,
        "latest_value": 1414,
        "obs_date": "2026-04-01"
      },
      {
        "first_value": 1502,
        "latest_value": 1522,
        "obs_date": "2026-03-01"
      }
    ],
    "series": "housing-starts",
    "source_agency": "U.S. Census Bureau",
    "surprise": {
      "actual": 1427,
      "expectation_detail": "trend-model: mean of prior 3 levels",
      "expectation_source": "trend-model",
      "expected": 1378.3,
      "surprise": 48.7
    },
    "title": "Housing Starts (SAAR)",
    "units": "Thousands of Units"
  },
  "meta": {
    "data_mode": "live",
    "docs": "https://x402-factory.com/docs/econ.series.housing-starts",
    "endpoint": "/v1/econ/housing-starts",
    "freshness": "daily",
    "generated_at": "2026-09-29T05:40:58.515Z",
    "request_id": "req_00000000",
    "sources": [
      "fred"
    ],
    "version": "1.0.0"
  }
}

# bash or zsh: see the payment challenge. Nothing is charged.
curl -sS -g -i 'https://x402-factory.com/v1/econ/housing-starts'

# x402 v2 sends the challenge base64-encoded in the PAYMENT-REQUIRED header (v1 sends it in the body).
# To read the header:
curl -sS -g -o /dev/null -D - 'https://x402-factory.com/v1/econ/housing-starts' \
  | grep -i '^payment-required:' | cut -d' ' -f2 | tr -d '\r' | base64 --decode

// npm i @x402/fetch @x402/evm viem
import { wrapFetchWithPayment, x402Client } from "@x402/fetch";
import { registerExactEvmScheme } from "@x402/evm/exact/client";
import { privateKeyToAccount } from "viem/accounts";

// Pays at most $0.02 per call.
const client = new x402Client().setSpendControls({ maxAmountPerPayment: "$0.02" });
registerExactEvmScheme(client, { signer: privateKeyToAccount(process.env.EVM_PRIVATE_KEY) });
const pay = wrapFetchWithPayment(fetch, client);

// Not sure it's safe to pay? ToolVet checks it first for $0.005. Pay for that from a separate
// client: this one is capped at $0.02 per payment. GET https://toolvet.app/api/v1/check?url=https%3A%2F%2Fx402-factory.com%2Fv1%2Fecon%2Fhousing-starts
const res = await pay("https://x402-factory.com/v1/econ/housing-starts");
console.log(res.status, await res.text());

# pip install "x402[requests,evm]"
import os
from eth_account import Account
from x402 import x402ClientSync
from x402.http.clients import x402_requests
from x402.mechanisms.evm import EthAccountSigner
from x402.mechanisms.evm.exact.register import register_exact_evm_client

# Pays at most $0.02 per call.
client = x402ClientSync().set_spend_controls({"max_amount_per_payment": "$0.02"})
register_exact_evm_client(client, EthAccountSigner(Account.from_key(os.environ["EVM_PRIVATE_KEY"])))

with x402_requests(client) as session:
    res = session.get("https://x402-factory.com/v1/econ/housing-starts")
    print(res.status_code, res.text)