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.
Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors, noted that April’s completions were the second-highest monthly tally at 1.62 million units. “Expect apartment vacancy rates to trend higher, rents to slow down and more homebuyers able to buy newly constructed homes,” he said.
However, Yun added, “given the recent declines in housing starts, home completions will steadily show declines in about six months. The housing shortage is not going away.”
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