Global| May 16 2013U.S. Housing Starts Drop to Five-Month Low as Multi-Family Building Slumps
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
New building activity backpedaled last month following its earlier strength. Total housing starts dropped 16.5% to 853,000 (AR) last month from 1.021M in March, initially reported as 1.036M. Expectations had been for 970,000 starts in [...]
New building activity backpedaled last month following its earlier strength. Total housing starts dropped 16.5% to 853,000 (AR) last month from 1.021M in March, initially reported as 1.036M. Expectations had been for 970,000 starts in the Action Economics survey of economists. A 38.9% m/m plunge in starts of multi-family units to 243,000 led last month's drop. Starts of single-family homes fell 2.1% (+20.8% y/y) to 610,000.
By region, fewer starts in the South led last month's decline with a 27.9% shortfall (+1.8% y/y) to 406,000. Starts in the Northeast fell 12.8% (+3.8% y/y) to 82,000 while starts in the West were off 6.2% (+43.2% y/y) to 212,000. Housing starts in the Midwest rose 10.9% (19.5% y/y) to 153,000.
Building permits jumped 14.3% to 1.017M last month and were up nearly one-third y/y. Permits to build single-family homes rose 3.0% (+27.5% y/y) to 617,000 while permits to build multi-family units surged 37.5% (50.9% y/y) to 400,000.
The housing starts figures can be found in Haver's USECON database. The expectations figure is contained in the AS1REPNA database.
| Housing Starts (000s, SAAR) | Apr | Mar | Feb | Apr Y/Y% | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 853 | 1,021 | 969 | 13.1 | 781 | 612 | 586 | |
| Single-Family | 610 | 623 | 652 | 20.8 | 534 | 434 | 471 | |
| Multi-Family | 243 | 398 | 317 | -2.4 | 247 | 178 | 114 | |
| Starts By Region | ||||||||
| Northeast | 82 | 94 | 106 | 3.8 | 78 | 68 | 72 | |
| Midwest | 153 | 138 | 135 | 19.5 | 129 | 103 | 97 | |
| South | 406 | 563 | 505 | 1.8 | 400 | 309 | 296 | |
| West | 212 | 226 | 223 | 43.2 | 173 | 132 | 120 | |
| Building Permits | 1,017 | 890 | 952 | 35.8 | 800 | 624 | 604 | |
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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