Recent Updates
- Australia: PSI (May)
- Australia: PSI by State (May)
- Brunei: International Trade (Mar)
- US: Intl Trade with Revisions, Productivity & Costs (Apr)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Productivity and Unit Labor Costs Revised Up for Q1'20
Output per hour revised up on weaker hours worked...
State & Pandemic Assistance Continuing Claims Total 32.5 Million
Initial jobless claims decreased to a still extremely-elevated 1.877 million in the week ending May 30...
Euro Area Retail Sales Fall Again
Euro area retail sales fell sharply again, dropping by 11.7% in April...
U.S. ISM Nonmanufacturing Activity Index Rebounds in May
Service sector business improves moderately...
U.S. ADP Nonfarm Private Payroll Declines Moderate During May
Nonfarm private payrolls during May declined 2.760 million (-16.6% y/y)...
by Tom Moeller May 17, 2005
Housing starts rebounded 11.0% in April and recovered about half of the prior month's unrevised 17.6% decline.The rise to 2.038M exceeded Consensus expectations for 1.97M starts. Figures were revised back to 2003.
Single-family starts gained back just a piece of the prior month's sharp decline with a 6.3% m/m rise. All of the rise was due to a 21.1% (11.4% y/y) increase in the South while single family starts in the Northeast dropped for the third month this year (-12.9% y/y). Single family starts in the Midwest fell 7.6% (-19.1% y/y) and starts in the West were off 4.7% but still up 1.0% y/y.
Multi family starts gained back most of the prior moth's skid with a 35.2% rise.
Building permits rose 5.3%. This first increase in three months was nearly back to the record high.
| Housing Starts (000s, AR) | April | March | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 2,038 | 1,836 | 3.6% | 1,950 | 1,854 | 1,7 10 |
| Single-family | 1,635 | 1,538 | 0.7% | 1,604 | 1,505 | 1,363 |
| Multi-family | 403 | 298 | 17.3% | 345 | 349 | 347 |
| Building Permits | 2,129 | 2,021 | 2.9% | 2,058 | 1,8 88 | 1,749 |
