Single-Family Starts Plunge -25.4% in March

Privately-owned housing starts in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 891,000, -30.2% below the revised March estimate of 1,276,000 and -29.7% below the April 2019 rate of 1,267,000. The U.S. Census Bureau said single-family housing starts in April were at a rate of 650,000, -25.4% below the revised March figure of 871,000.

“While the April numbers were down, they were somewhat better than forecast and are expected to improve as more of the economy reopens,” said Robert Dietz, chief economist for the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB). “Single-family weakness was particularly seen in the West and Northeast as larger metro areas were under more economic pressure due to the lock-down phase. But as a sign of the strength housing had going into this downturn, single-family starts are still +1% higher YTD.”