The U.S. housing market received some rare good news this morning as the Commerce Department reported(.pdf) that housing starts and permits for new construction both exceeded analysts’ estimates by wide margins, though the gains were due largely to multi-family home construction as activity for single-family homes was little changed.
Housing starts jumped 13.2 percent, from an upwardly revised annual rate of 947,000 units in March to 1.07 million units in April, far above expectations for an increase to a rate of 980,000 units and some 26.4 percent higher on a year-over-year basis.
Housing permits rose 8.0 percent, from an upwardly revised rate of 1.00 million units in March to 1.08 million units in April, considerably better than expectations for an increase to a 1.02 million rate and 3.8 percent higher than a year ago.
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In both cases, the surge was due almost exclusively to volatile multi-family home building (of five or more units) where starts jumped 39.6 percent and permits rose 19.5 percent. Single-family home starts rose just 0.8 percent last month and permits edged 0.3 percent higher, making the headlines for this report much less than meets the eye.
