Last week, the US Census Bureau and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development released their collaborated new home construction data for the month of March. They showed that there were 1.58 million housing “starts” which is considered the breaking of ground for new construction. This is an increase of 19.4% month over month and 37% year over year. Single family “starts” were up 15% month over month and a whopping 40% year over year. Yes, these numbers were very strong and much higher than estimates, but we have to remember they are a bit skewed since because they are in comparison from when Covid was very much affecting the industry. In this report, we also saw permits to construct come in at 1.766 million. They were up 3% for the month and again a large 30% year over year. When looking at single family permits, they were up 5% for the month and a very strong 36% year over year.
Housing Completions, which literally mean the completion of a construction project, came in at 1.58 million. They were up 16.6% month over month and 23.4% year over year. With housing inventories at a record low and home buyer demand not slowing down, a big answer to the housing shortage is new construction to help accommodate desire to own a home. Even at these rates of production, we still need more homes to become available to help aide the housing market.
Source: https://reut.rs/2RETMu2
By: Jon Iacono