Recent Updates
- China: GDP (Q1)
- Euro area: CSPP Holdings Detail (Q1)
- US: Consumer Sentiment (Apr-prelim), New Residential Constr (Mar)
- Hong Kong: Personal Bankruptcy Petitions, Clearing
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Housing Affordability Fell Back in February, but Still in Recent Range
The NAR U.S. Fixed Rate Mortgage Housing Affordability Index decreased 7.6% (-1.4% y/y) in February to 173.1...
European New Car Registrations Remarkably Strong Yet Forgettable
Car registrations are not going to be the only statistic that bears these dual and seemingly dueling characteristics...
U.S. Retail Sales Soar in March
Total retail sales including food service and drinking establishments increased 9.8% (27.7% y/y) during March...
U.S. Industrial Production Rebounded in March
Industrial production rebounded in March, rising 1.4% m/m (+1.0% y/y)...
U.S. Home Builder Index Edges Higher in April
The NAHB-Wells Fargo Composite Housing Market Index rose 1.2% to 83 during April...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller April 16, 2015
Housing starts during March improved 2.0% to 926,000 units (-3.5% y/y). The gain followed declines during the prior two months totaling 16.0%. February's level of starts was revised to 908,000 from 897,000. Last month's improvement disappointed expectations for 1.040 million starts in the Action Economics Forecast Survey.
Single-family starts rebounded 4.4% m/m to 618,00 (-3.8% y/y) after two months of decline totaling 18.3%. The gain was accompanied by a 2.5% drop in multi-family starts to 308,000 (-2.7% y/y) following two months of decline totaling 11.2%.
Starts in the Northeast rebounded by more than half m/m to 101,000 units (-19.8% y/y). In the Midwest, starts recovered by roughly one-third to 126,000 (-13.0% y/y) and mostly offset February's decline. Starts in the West declined 19.3% (-3.4% y/y) to 201,000, the lowest level since April. The Southern region realized a 3.5% drop (+3.1% y/y) to 498,000.
Building permits declined 5.7% last month to 1.039 million (+7.6% y/y) from 1.102 million. Single-family permits improved 2.1% to 636,000 (9.4% y/y) but multi-family permits declined 15.9% to 403,000 (+4.6% y/y).
The housing starts figures can be found in Haver's USECON database. The expectations figure is contained in the AS1REPNA database.
The Fed's latest Beige Book covering regional economic conditions is available here.
Housing Starts (000s, SAAR) | Mar | Feb | Jan | Mar Y/Y % | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 926 | 908 | 1,072 | -3.5 | 1,001 | 930 | 784 |
Single-Family | 618 | 592 | 698 | -3.8 | 646 | 621 | 537 |
Multi-Family | 308 | 316 | 374 | -2.7 | 355 | 309 | 247 |
Starts By Region | |||||||
Northeast | 101 | 47 | 109 | -19.8 | 110 | 97 | 80 |
Midwest | 126 | 96 | 144 | -13.0 | 160 | 149 | 129 |
South | 498 | 516 | 527 | 3.1 | 496 | 467 | 400 |
West | 201 | 249 | 292 | -3.4 | 236 | 217 | 175 |
Building Permits | 1,039 | 1,102 | 1,060 | 7.6 | 1,033 | 990 | 829 |