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Economy in Brief
UK Consumer Sentiment Hits Lowest Reading since 1996
(when the GFK survey began; also lowest reading 'ever')
Of these 13 readings eight of them declined on the month in May three of them improved and two of them were unchanged...
U.S. Existing Home Sales Continue to Fall in April as Houses Become Less Affordable
The combination of soaring home prices across the nation and rising interest rates is making homes less affordable...
U.S. Index of Leading Indicators Fell in April
Five of the index's components fell in April, one was unchanged and four increased...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Rose in the Latest Week
The state insured rates of unemployment in regular programs vary widely...
CBI Gauge in the UK Continues to Be Upbeat
The global economy has a lot of challenges...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
Profits and Margins Plunge In Q1: Expect More Margin Contraction As Fed Squeezes Inflation
The Many Links of Inflation Cycle: Hard Landing Is Needed to Crack Them
Peak Inflation and Fed Policy: A Relationship which Should Worry the Fed and Scare Investors
Why Have the Yields on TIPS Been Negative in the Past Two Years?
by Tom Moeller April 19, 2022
• Single-family starts ease while multi-family improves.
• Regional changes remain mixed.
• Building permits rise slightly.
Housing starts rose 0.3% (3.9% y/y) during March to 1.793 million from 1.788 million in February, revised from 1.769 million. It remained the highest level of starts since June 2006. January starts were revised to 1.679 million from 1.657 million. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 1.741 million starts during March.
Starts of single-family units fell 1.7% (-4.4% y/y) last month to 1.200 million after rising to 1.221 million in February. Multi-family housing starts improved 4.6% (26.2% y/y) to 593,000 from 567,000 in February.
By region, housing starts in the Northeast more-than-doubled m/m (77.6% y/y) in March to 293,000. Starts in the West increased 7.7% (13.9% y/y) to 434,000. In the South, housing starts declined 17.2% (-6.4% y/y) to 834,000 units. Starts in the Midwest eased 2.9% (-19.4% y/y) to 232,000 in March.
Building permits rose 0.4% (6.7% y/y) to 1.873 million from 1.865 million in February. Permits to build single-family homes declined 4.8% (-3.9% y/y) in March to 1.147 million units. Permits to build multi-family homes rose 10.0% (29.4% y/y) to 726,000.
The housing starts and permits figures can be found in Haver's USECON database. The expectations figure is contained in the AS1REPNA database.
Housing Starts (000s, SAAR) | Mar | Feb | Jan | Mar Y/Y % | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 1,793 | 1,788 | 1,679 | 3.9 | 1,605 | 1,397 | 1,292 |
Single-Family | 1,200 | 1,221 | 1,167 | -4.4 | 1,131 | 1,004 | 889 |
Multi-Family | 593 | 567 | 512 | 26.2 | 473 | 393 | 403 |
Starts By Region | |||||||
Northeast | 293 | 139 | 105 | 77.6 | 138 | 113 | 115 |
Midwest | 232 | 239 | 198 | -19.4 | 217 | 193 | 169 |
South | 834 | 1,007 | 924 | -6.4 | 849 | 743 | 687 |
West | 434 | 403 | 452 | 13.9 | 401 | 347 | 321 |
Building Permits | 1,873 | 1,865 | 1,895 | 6.7 | 1,714 | 1,479 | 1,385 |