Briefing.com: Housing Starts

Updated: 17-Apr-18 09:19 ET

March Housing Starts

Updated: 17-Apr-18 09:19 ET

Highlights

Housing starts increased 1.9% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.319 million units (Briefing.com consensus 1.268 million) while permits rose 2.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.354 million (1.315 million). There were upward revisions to starts and permits for February as well.

Key Factors

By region, single-family starts were down 9.4% in the Northeast, up 37.7% in the Midwest, down 9.8% in the South, and down 8.1% in the West
By region, single-family permits were down 19.0% in the Northeast, down 4.7% in the Midwest, down 4.9% in the South, and down 3.6% in the West
Multi-unit starts increased 14.4% month-over-month in March. Multi-unit permits increased 19.0% month-over-month in March.
The number of units under construction at the end of the period rose 0.3% to 1.125 million. That left the first quarter average 1.6% above the fourth quarter average, so this will be a positive input in Q1 GDP forecasts.

Big Picture

The key takeaway from the report is that the monthly increases were driven entirely by multi-unit dwellings. Single-family starts were down 3.7% while single-family permits fell 5.5%, which is disappointing given the supply shortage of single-family homes.