The annual pace of housing starts in the U.S. rose 7.0 percent from February to March, up 46.7 percent on a year-over-year basis. While the pace of single-family home starts remains up 28.7 percent year-over-year, it slipped 4.8 percent from February to March. The pace of construction for structures with five or more units, however, surged 26.9 percent and is up 82.3 percent year-over-year.
The number of structures with five or more units on which construction commenced surged over 60 percent to 32,000 last month having averaged 30,100 a month since 1963, peaking at 87,200 in May of 1973 and measuring 83,900 that March. Construction on 51,700 single-family homes started last month having averaged 87,400 a month since 1959, peaking at 170,400 in May of 2005 and measuring 133,400 that March.
Total housing starts which measured 85,800 in March have averaged 122,500 a month since 1959, hitting 227,300 in early 2006 and peaking at 249,400 in early 1972.
On a year-over-year basis, permit activity to start construction was up 17.3 percent in March with applications for single-family homes up 27.7 percent, up 0.7 percent for multi-family housing. Adjusted for seasonality, permit activity hit a 902,000 pace, down 3.9 percent from the month before.
In the west, starts were up 53.7 percent year-over-year, up 37.4 percent for single-family homes, while permit activity was up 10.7 percent, up 39.2 percent for single-family homes.
∙ New Residential Construction Statistics [doc.gov]
∙ Housing Starts Tick Up, Permit Activity Hits Five-ish Year High [SocketSite]
Not sure the surge in multifamily means much in this area, but in the DC area lenders are eager to lend for new apartment buildings. The builders are institutions, so it’s easy for them to get loans in today’s easy money environment. Today’s rental rates look great, the numbers all look wonderful, so the projections look great. These guys don’t try to guess the future, if they can get the money from the bank they build, and if they can’t get the money they don’t. Could be a big dump in about a year with all these buildings going up at the same time.