New building permits down 3% in US housing data today

Written by

Written on May 16, 2024

Reading time 2 minutes

Investors saw some bad news and some better news in the US new residential construction numbers today.
According to the Census Bureau , building permits and housing starts were both down in April in the US.
However, building completions increased significantly in the same period.

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development and the US Census Bureau released the New Residential Construction figures for April 2024 today.

The results were mixed, with new building permits down 3% this month, housing starts down 0.6% and housing completions up.

Building Permits down

Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in April dropped 3% month-on-month (MoM) to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,440,000 units.

This is also 2% lower year-on-year (YoY), below the April 2023 rate of 1,470,000.

Single‐family authorizations in April were at a rate of 976,000; 0.8% below last month’s figure of 984,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 408,000 in April.

Housing Starts data

Privately‐owned housing starts increased 5.7% up in April, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,360,000.

However, it was 0.6% lower YoY compared to April 2023.

It was also above the revised March estimate of 1,287,000, but is 0.6 percent (roughly 12.3 percent) below the April 2023 rate of 1,368,000.

The April rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 322,000.

Housing Completions stats

Housing completions were up significantly this month.

Single‐family housing completions, especially, increased 15.4% MoM in April to a rate of 1,092,000 units.

Privately‐owned housing completions in April rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,623,000. This was roughly 14.6% higher year-on-year compared to April 2023 figures.

It was also roughly 8.6% higher monthly than the revised March 2024 estimate of 1,495,000.

The April rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 516,000.

Why are the monthly US housing figures important?

Building Permits, Housing Starts and Housing Completions are three sets of figures which, together, give a picture of the health of the US construction industry and, with it, of the US economy as a whole.

Usually, a higher amount of building permits, housing starts and completions means a growing and bullish US economy.