Housing starts rise 5% in May
Housing starts shot up to a near 11-year high in May but permits fell drastically, the Commerce Department reported today.
Privately-owned housing starts in May rose 5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,350,000 from the revised April estimate of 1,286,000. This marks the highest level since the July 2007 rate of 1,354,000. The latest report is also 20.3% above the May 2017 rate of 1,22,000 starts.
Single-family housing starts in May were at a rate of 936,000, rising 3.9% from the revised April figure of 901,000.
Building permits for homes fell 4.6% in May in to an adjusted annual rate of 1,301,000 from the revised April rate of 1,364,000. Single-family authorizations dropped 2.2% to 844,000 from the April rate of 863,000.
Regionally, total starts in the Midwest soared more than 62% as single-family starts climbed more than 44%. But starts fell 15% in the Northeast, 0.9% in the South, and 4.1% in the West.
“Ongoing job creation, positive demographics and tight existing home inventory should spur more single-family production in the months ahead,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “However, the softening of single-family permits is consistent with our reports showing that builders are concerned over mounting construction costs, including the highly elevated prices of softwood lumber.”
Year-to-date, single-family and multifamily production are respectively 9.8% and 13.6% higher than their levels over the same period last year.
“We should see builders continue to increase production to meet growing consumer demand even as they grapple with stubborn supply-side constraints, particularly rising lumber costs,” said NAHB Chairman Randy Noel, a custom home builder from LaPlace, La.
Privately-owned housing starts in May rose 5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,350,000 from the revised April estimate of 1,286,000. This marks the highest level since the July 2007 rate of 1,354,000. The latest report is also 20.3% above the May 2017 rate of 1,22,000 starts.
Single-family housing starts in May were at a rate of 936,000, rising 3.9% from the revised April figure of 901,000.
Building permits for homes fell 4.6% in May in to an adjusted annual rate of 1,301,000 from the revised April rate of 1,364,000. Single-family authorizations dropped 2.2% to 844,000 from the April rate of 863,000.
Regionally, total starts in the Midwest soared more than 62% as single-family starts climbed more than 44%. But starts fell 15% in the Northeast, 0.9% in the South, and 4.1% in the West.
“Ongoing job creation, positive demographics and tight existing home inventory should spur more single-family production in the months ahead,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “However, the softening of single-family permits is consistent with our reports showing that builders are concerned over mounting construction costs, including the highly elevated prices of softwood lumber.”
Year-to-date, single-family and multifamily production are respectively 9.8% and 13.6% higher than their levels over the same period last year.
“We should see builders continue to increase production to meet growing consumer demand even as they grapple with stubborn supply-side constraints, particularly rising lumber costs,” said NAHB Chairman Randy Noel, a custom home builder from LaPlace, La.