Total housing starts declined in April after strong early months in 2017. Total starts were down almost 2.6%, falling to a 1.172-million-unit seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to the joint data release from the Census Bureau and HUD. This decrease was due to a 9.2% drop in multifamily starts, although single-family permit activity was also softer than expected in April.
Single-family starts were effectively flat, rising slightly (0.4%) to an 835,000-unit annual rate. The February annualized rate, 877,000, was the fastest monthly pace since the Great Recession, while the April rate ranks fourth.
However, single-family permits were down 4.5% in April, particularly due to permitting declines in the South (down almost 8%). The South had a strong start for the year, and we are now seeing a slight pullback.
Total U.S. housing starts were down almost 2.6%, falling to a 1.172-million-unit seasonally adjusted annual rate. Multifamily starts dropped 9.2%, and single-family permit activity was also softer than expected in April.ForConstructionPros.com
Despite the disappointing April estimates, housing starts for the first four months of the year are running 5.3% ahead of their year-ago level and single-family starts are up a stronger 7.0%.
“The upward trend in single-family starts is consistent with yesterday’s strong homebuilder confidence report’” according to the Wells Fargo Economics Group’s analysis of April’s housing numbers. “We look for homebuilding to continue to trend higher and expect total housing starts to register a 7.3% gain in 2017.”
Focusing on housing’s economic impact, 57% of homes under construction in April were multifamily (617,000). This multifamily count is almost 9% higher than a year ago, although in recent months this total has flattened, consistent with our forecast. There were 457,000 single-family units under construction, a gain of almost 7% from this time in 2016. This is the highest count of single-family units under construction since the summer of 2008.
Regionally, single-family starts posted in April a 29% decline in the Northeast (smaller market with more volatile data), 3% decline in the South, a 9% gain in the West and a 19% jump in the Midwest, all on a monthly basis.
Today’s numbers are consistent with NAHB’s 2017 forecast, which indicates continued growth for single-family construction (limited by availability of workers and lots) and continued leveling off of multifamily production this year. The soft single-family permit numbers in April appear to have been concentrated in the South, although there were small declines in the Northeast and the Midwest as well. Builder confidence levels suggest this is a monthly deviation from the overall slow growth trend.
Single-family U.S. housing starts in April 2017 were effectively flat, rising just 0.4% to an 835,000-unit annual rate. The February annualized rate, 877,000, was the fastest monthly pace since the Great Recession, while the April rate ranks fourth.ForConstructionPros.com
