· During March, housing starts were weaker than expected, falling 11.9%
m/m to 947,000 units. A decline to 1.010M had been generally expected.
The latest level was the lowest since early 1991.
· Accentuating the total's m/m decline was a 24.6% drop in starts of multi-family units which more than reversed February's 11.7% rise.
· Single family starts last month fell
by about the same 5.7% as they did in February. That month's decline was
revised slightly shallower. Single family starts in March also were at
their lowest level since early 1991 and they have fallen 63.0% since
their early 2006 peak. For 1Q08, starts fell 12.6% from 4Q07.
· By region, in the Midwest single family starts fell to a record low and were down 25.0% y/y. Single family starts in the Northeast were roughly unchanged m/m but were down 30.4% y/y. In the South, single family starts also were about unchanged (-40.9% y/y) and in the West single family starts fell 11.8%. (-48.3% y/y). That decline reversed much of the surge in February and they remained down 70% from the August 2005 peak.
· Building permits fell 5.8% m/m and single-family permits fell 6.2% (-46.4% y/y).
· Understanding the Securitization of Subprime Mortgage Credit from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York can be found here.