The monthly
report on new residential construction from the Commerce Department showed on Thursday
that housing starts increased by 5.7 per cent m-o-m in April to a seasonally
adjusted annual pace of 1.360 million, while
building permits dropped by 3.0 per cent m-o-m to a seasonally adjusted annual rate
of 1.440 million (the lowest level since December 2022).
Economists had forecast
housing starts of 1.420 million units for April and building permits of 1.480
million units.
Data for March
was revised to show homebuilding increasing
at a pace of 1.287 million units, instead of rising at a rate of 1.321 million
units as originally announced.
According to
the report, permits for single-family homes, the largest segment of the market,
dropped by 0.8 per cent m-o-m in April, while approvals for the multi-family
homes segment (includes 2 to 4 and 5 or more housing units) plunged by 7.4 per
cent m-o-m.
In the
meantime, groundbreaking on single-family homes decreased by 0.4 per cent m-o-m
in April, while multi-unit starts surged by 31.4 per cent m-o-m.