U.S. Housing Starts Rise in April
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
- Gain in multi-family starts outpaces single-family advance.
- Starts are mixed across the country.
- Decline in building permits dominated by multi-family.
Total housing starts rose 2.2% (-22.3% y/y) during April to 1.401 million units (SAAR) from 1.371 in March, revised from 1.420 million. Earlier figures were revised. Starts were 22.3% below the April 2022 peak of 1.803 million units. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 1.40 million starts in April.
The rise in total starts last month was led by a 3.2% increase (-11.5% y/y) in multi-family starts to 555,000. The rise followed a 10.5% March decline. Single-family starts rose 1.6% (-28.1% y/y) to 846,000 after easing 0.2% in March. They remained 35.5% below the December 2020 peak.
Starts in the Midwest jumped 32.6% (-21.9% y/y) to 171,000, following a 31.0% March drop. Starts in the West improved 34.6% (-25.5% y/y) to 315,000 after falling 33.5% in March. To the downside, starts in the Northeast fell 23.4% in April (-2.2% y/y) to 131,000 after surging 62.9% in March. In the South, starts weakened 6.3% (23.7% y/y) to 784,000 following a 5.7% March rise.
Building permits fell 1.5% (-21.1% y/y) to 1.416 million from 1.437 million in March, revised from 1.413 million. Multi-family permits fell 7.7% (-21.0% y/y) to 561,000 after an 11.4% March decline. Single-family permits gained 3.1% (-21.2% y/y) to 855,000 after a 4.1% March increase.
The housing starts and permits figures can be found in Haver's USECON database. The expectations figure is contained in the AS1REPNA database.
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.
More Economy in Brief
Global