by Calculated Risk on 5/16/2013 08:45:00 AM
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Housing Starts decline sharply in April to 853,000 SAAR
From the Census Bureau: Permits, Starts and Completions
Housing Starts:
Privately-owned housing starts in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 853,000. This is 16.5 percent below the revised March estimate of 1,021,000, but is 13.1 percent above the April 2012 rate of 754,000.
Single-family housing starts in April were at a rate of 610,000; this is 2.1 percent below the revised March figure of 623,000. The April rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 234,000.
Building Permits:
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,017,000. This is 14.3 percent above the revised March rate of 890,000 and is 35.8 percent above the April 2012 estimate of 749,000.
Single-family authorizations in April were at a rate of 617,000; this is 3.0 percent above the revised March figure of 599,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 374,000 in April.
![Total Housing Starts and Single Family Housing Starts](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqyzAaT-zHxXi4RLjHIbcLY3YTzroQI_IRBAYingmVDTkGvV7NXVCA8vnLWUh_UMn7Z9ezuD-Eu786PYWGQGV4IbyI3NcCBVvK_QC6-dM48kPlcNKE-CJNavFgm2epPGnoZ7kfIw/s320/StartsApril2013.jpg)
The first graph shows single and multi-family housing starts for the last several years.
Multi-family starts (red, 2+ units) decreased sharply in April following the sharp increase in March (Multi-family is volatile month-to-month).
Single-family starts (blue) declined to 610,000 in April (Note: March was revised up from 619 thousand to 623 thousand).
The second graph shows total and single unit starts since 1968.
![Total Housing Starts and Single Family Housing Starts](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEkXf8hBcnaAW8rldXkEEhaRKRCFH_pr3vbLU4lpMPgKNLCPOE7CrRPHCsD8UFxTuKnFW4PoIjzKU4zmpznI_7kQ4HZwuR3BlWHsHN3xsa83R2oRHZ3bqiN0NIxJzGXrOVADgkuQ/s320/StartsLongApril2013.jpg)
This was well below expectations of 969 thousand starts in April, mostly due to the sharp decrease in multi-family starts. Total starts in April were only up 13.1% from April 2012; however single family starts were up 20.8% year-over-year. I'll have more later ...