The monthly
report on new residential construction from the Commerce Department showed on Wednesday
that housing starts tumbled by 9.8 per cent m-o-m in May to a seasonally
adjusted annual pace of 1.256 million (the lowest level since May 2020), while building permits dropped by 2.0 per cent m-o-m to a
seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.393 million (the lowest level since June 2020).
Economists had predicted
housing starts of 1.360 million units in May and building permits of 1.430
million units.
Data for April
was revised to show homebuilding rising at
a pace of 1.392 million units, instead of increasing at a rate of 1.361 million
units as originally reported.
According to
the report, permits for single-family homes, the largest segment of the market,
decreased by 2.7 per cent m-o-m in May,
while approvals for the multi-family homes segment (includes 2 to 4 and 5 or
more housing units) slipped by 0.8 per cent m-o-m.
In the meantime, groundbreaking on single-family
homes edged up by 0.4 per cent m-o-m in May, while multi-unit starts plummeted by 30.4 per cent m-o-m.