Housing starts not only beat expectations but they reached a rate not seen since 2006, according to the Census Bureau’s latest new residential construction report…(Census Bureau)
- M-O-M: Privately‐owned housing starts in March were up 0.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,793,000. Economists had projected starts would fall to a rate of 1.74M.
- Y-O-Y: Housing starts were up 3.9% when compared to March 2021.
Building permits also beat expectations and found themselves in positive territory in March…
- M-O-M: Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in March were up 0.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,873,000. Economists had projected permits would fall to 1.82M.
- Y-O-Y: Building permits were up 6.7% when compared to March 2021.
Housing completions were the only category in the red for the month…
- M-O-M: Privately‐owned housing completions in March fell 4.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,303,000.
- Y-O-Y: Housing completions were down 13.0% when compared to March 2021.
SINGLE FAMILY: The all-important single-family category was down across the board. Month-over-month housing starts were down 1.7%, permits were down 4.8%, and completions were down 6.4%.
REMINDER: Homebuilder confidence was down in March for the third month in a row.
With inventories continuing to remain at historic lows it is encouraging to see building data beat expectations despite ongoing supply chain problems. It’s also encouraging to see building momentum continue in a rising rate environment. However, even though rates have been rising all year, they really skyrocketed at the end of March and the start of April. April’s report will give a much better indication if rising rates are impacting homebuilders.