Housing Starts, Permits Plunge in April

We just got our latest look at home construction, and it wasn’t good … Housing starts plunged 10.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 523,000 in April from an upwardly revised 585,000 in March. That missed expectations for starts of 569,000. Building permits fell 4 percent to a 551,000 SAAR from a downwardly revised 574,000 a month earlier. That also missed expectations for an increase to 590,000. By property type, single family starts slumped 5.1 percent while multifamily starts plunged 24.1 percent. The permitting breakdown was -1.8 percent for single family and -8.8 percent for multifamily. As for the regional breakdown, starts fell 4.8 percent in the Northeast and 23 percent in the South. They rose . . . → Read More: Housing Starts, Permits Plunge in April