Housing starts, building permits, and housing completions were all down in April, according to the Census Bureau & HUD…(Census Bureau)
Privately-owned housing starts fell 0.2% to a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.724M but is 14.6% higher than the same time one year ago.
- Economists had projected an increase to 1.765M.
Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits fell 3.2% to a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.819M, but this is 3.1% higher than the same time one year ago.
- Economists had projected a bigger drop to 1.812M.
NOTE: Privately‐owned housing completions saw the biggest decline with a 5.1% drop to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.295M, this is down 8.6% from one year ago.
The South continues to dominate all regions with regard to housing starts with a seasonally adjusted rate of 926k thanks to a 10.6% jump month-over-month.
- The West was number two with a seasonally adjusted rate of 432k (+3.3%) followed by the Midwest at 184k (-22.0%) and the Northeast close behind at 182k (-23.2).
