Housing starts increased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 974,000 in May, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The increase was 4.3% above the revised April estimate of 934,000, but is 23.2% lower than the May 2019 rate of 1.268 million. Single-family home starts increased 0.1% from last month.
Housing starts climbed across the country in the Northeast (50.0%), West (21.3%), Midwest (12.2%) and South (5.6%).
New building permits rose to 1.220 million in April, raising 14.4% over the month but dropping 8.8% year-over-year. Single-family building permits increased 11.9% from the revised April figure.
Housing completions were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.115 million, down 7.3% from the revised April estimate and 9.3% below the May 2019 rate.
Read the Census release.
