Housing starts in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,360,000, the U.S. Census Bureau said Thursday. This is 5.7% above the revised March estimate of 1,287,000 but down 0.6% year-over-year.
In the more volatile multifamily construction segment, the monthly and annual fluctuations were wider. At a seasonally adjusted pace of 322,000 units, starts were up more than 30% from March but down by nearly 50% from April 2023.
Permitting was down across the board by 3% from March and 2% from a year ago to an annualized 1,440,000 units. For multifamily in particular, building permits totaled 408,000 units, down about 10% month-over-month and nearly 30% Y-O-Y.