Housing Starts Off in April

Washington, DC, May 16, 2006—Housing starts fell 7.4% in April to a seasonally adjusted 1.85 million annualized units, according to the Commerce Department. It was the largest drop in more than a year. Starts are now at their lowest level of starts since November 2004. The decline in housing starts in April was larger than expected. Economists had forecast housing starts to remain basically flat at 1.97 million units in April. Starts in March was revised slightly higher to a drop of 6.4% to 2.00 million units, compared with the initial estimate of a 7.8% decline to 1.96 million units. Starts of single-family homes fell 5.6% in April to a 1.54 million annualized rate. Starts on multifamily dwellings fell 10.3% to 1.63 million units. Building permits for new housing fell 5.4% to a 1.98 million annual rate. Permits are at their lowest level since February 2004. Permits for single-family homes dropped by 4.0% to a 1.502 million annual rate. In April, housing starts fell in the South and West but rose in the Northeast and Midwest.