Global| May 16 2017U.S. Housing Starts Decline Again
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
Housing starts remain soft. During April, total starts declined 2.6% to 1.172 million units (AR) from 1.203 million in March, revised from 1.215 million. It was the lowest level of starts since November. Expectations had been for [...]
Housing starts remain soft. During April, total starts declined 2.6% to 1.172 million units (AR) from 1.203 million in March, revised from 1.215 million. It was the lowest level of starts since November. Expectations had been for 1.250 million starts in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The overall decline reflected a 9.2% drop in multi-family starts to 337,000 (-15.1% y/y) following three consecutive months of sharp decline. Over the four months, multi-family starts are down 26.7%. Starts of single-family units improved 0.4% to 835,000 after a 5.1% decline during March.
By region, housing starts in the Northeast declined 37.3% (-34.2% y/y) to 79,000 units, the lowest point since February 2015. In the South, starts dropped 9.1% (-1.5% y/y) to 592,000 following two months of moderate decline. Activity in the other regions of the country improved. Starts in the West increased 5.4% (23.4% y/y) to 295,000. Starts in the Midwest jumped 41.1% (1.0% y/y) to 206,000, the highest level since December.
Building permits slipped 2.5% (+5.7% y/y) to 1.229 million units, the second decline in three months. Permits to build single-family homes fell 4.5% to 789,000 (+6.2% y/y), the third decline in four months. Permits to build multi-family units increased 1.4% (4.8% y/y) to 440,000, the highest level in three months.
The housing starts and permits figures can be found in Haver's USECON database. The expectations figure is contained in the AS1REPNA database.
Do Credit Markets Watch the Waving Flag of Bankruptcy? from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York can be found here.
| `Housing Starts (000s, SAAR) | Apr | Mar | Feb | Apr Y/Y % | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 1,172 | 1,203 | 1,288 | 0.7 | 1,17 | 1,107 | 1,001 |
| Single-Family | 835 | 832 | 877 | 8.9 | 784 | 712 | 647 |
| Multi-Family | 337 | 371 | 411 | -15.1 | 393 | 395 | 355 |
| Starts By Region | |||||||
| Northeast | 79 | 126 | 111 | -34.2 | 116 | 136 | 109 |
| Midwest | 206 | 146 | 182 | 1.0 | 185 | 150 | 159 |
| South | 592 | 651 | 658 | -1.5 | 584 | 556 | 497 |
| West | 295 | 280 | 337 | 23.4 | 292 | 265 | 236 |
| Building Permits | 1,229 | 1,260 | 1,219 | 5.7 | 1,207 | 1,178 | 1,053 |
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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