Housing starts jumped 5.7% in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,235,000 but remained 2.5% below the April 2018 rate of 1,267,000, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
Single‐family housing starts in April were at a rate of 854,000, 6.2% above the revised March figure of 804,000 but 4.3% behind a year earlier. The April rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 359,000, up 2.3% sequentially and 1.4% from a year earlier.
April building permits rose 0.6% from March to a rate of 1,296,000, 5.0% below the April 2018 rate of 1,364,000.
Single‐family authorizations in April were at a rate of 782,000, 4.2% below the revised March figure of 816,000 and down 9.4% from April, 2018. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 467,000 in April, up 7.1% from March and 1.5% from a year earlier.
Housing completions in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,312,000,1.4% below the revised March estimate of 1,331,000 but 5.5% above the April 2018 rate of 1,244,000. Single‐family housing completions in April were at a rate of 918,000, 4.1% below the revised March rate of 957,000.
Mike Fratantoni, SVP and chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association, analyzed the report: “Housing starts bounced back in April, following weaker readings in February and March. The starts and permits data show weakness in the South, particularly for single-family construction. Other data, including the builder confidence index and MBA’s mortgage applications for new homes, are showing stronger growth than the permits and starts data imply. This could indicate that April’s starts data may be revised upwards in the months ahead.”
