After falling to a 5-month low in the previous month, single-family housing starts rebounded slightly to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 778,000 in April, according to the new residential construction report released by the U.S. Department of Commerce Tuesday morning. April's reading marks a 3.3% gain month-over-month and a 4.3% increase year-over-year, a relief to the home building industry.
Privately-owned housing permits went up 3.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,116,000 in April, signaling an upswing of future housing starts a few months ahead. The increase was in part driven by the growth in single-family permits, which gained 1.5% month-over-month and 8.4% year-over-year to a rate of 736,000.
This month, single-family construction moved up to a rate of 433,000, up 0.5% from March's 431,000. Construction of one-unit structures picked up 1.4% in the Midwest, a faster pace than any other regions. The South came out closely behind with a 0.9% month-over-month gain. The northeast stayed unchanged in this month, while the West saw a 1.0% drop in one-unit construction.
In this month, privately-owned housing completion declined -11.0% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 933,000, with completed single-family homes dropping -3.6% to 691,000 and multi-family homes dipping -27.7% to 232,000. The South market reported an annual rate of 383,000 newly finished single-family homes in April, more than the rest three regions combined, but is still a -3.0% drop from a month earlier.
Read the full release from the Commerce Department here>>
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