US housing starts for March 1.321M vs 1.487M estimate

Housing starts for March lower than expectations

• Prior month housing starts 1.521M revised up to 1.549M
• Housing starts.1.321M vs 1.487M estimate
• Housing starts MoM -14.7% vs +10.7% last month
• Single‐family housing starts in March were at a rate of 1,022,000; this is 12.4 percent (±12.5 percent)* below the revised February figure of 1,167,000.
• The March rate for multifamily housing start units in buildings with five units or more was 290,000.

Building permits for March lower than expectations

• Prior month building permits 1.518M revised up to 1.523M.
• Building permits 1.458M vs 1.515M estimate.
• Building permits MoM -4.3% vs +1.9% last month.
• Single-family housing building permits in March were at a rate of 973,000, marking a 5.7% decrease from the revised February rate of 1,032,000.
• Building permits for units in buildings with five or more units were recorded at a rate of 433,000 in March.

Housing completions:

• Privately-owned housing completions in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,469,000, which is 13.5% lower than the revised February estimate of 1,698,000.
• This rate is also 3.9% below the rate from March 2023, which was 1,528,000.
• Single-family housing completions in March were at a rate of 947,000, down 10.5% from the revised February rate of 1,058,000.
• Completions for units in buildings with five units or more were recorded at a rate of 502,000 in March.

Not a good pipeline for both starts and permits as builder struggle with rates and affordability issues.

This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com.