Production of single-family homes edged upward in April as builders responded to improving conditions for new-home buyers, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. While overall starts fell 12.8 percent to a record-low seasonally adjusted annual pace of 458,000 units, the decline was entirely confined to the multi-family sector, where production fell 46 percent to a 90,000-unit pace for the month, while single-family starts posted a 2.8 percent gain to 368,000 units.

“With some of the best home-buying conditions of a lifetime now in place — including historically low mortgage rates, affordable prices and a first-time home buyer tax credit — single-family builders are starting to see the light on the horizon as more consumers realize they can now obtain the home of their dreams,” said NAHB Chairman Joe Robson. NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe said excess inventory and a severe credit crunch for acquisition, development and construction financing and a lack of investor interest in Low Income Housing Tax Credits are keeping apartment builders from moving ahead with new projects.

Single-family housing starts rose for a second consecutive month in April, posting a 2.8 percent gain to a 368,000-unit pace for the month. At the same time, issuance of single-family permits, which can be an indicator of future building activity, rose 3.6 percent to 373,000 units. On the multi-family side, starts fell 46 percent to an all-time low 90,000-unit pace, while permits declined nearly 20 percent to 121,000 units.

Regionally, combined single- and multifamily housing starts in April declined across every part of the country except the West, where a 42.5 percent gain offset a nearly equivalent decline in the previous month. Starts fell 30.6 percent in the Northeast, 21.4 percent in the Midwest and 21.1 percent in the South, again largely due to big declines in the more volatile multi-family sector.