Despite an increase in single-family volume, a decline in multifamily permits and new construction pulled the overall numbers down. But completed multifamily construction jumped.
The 118,600 housing units that were authorized by permit-issuing places during April brought year-to-date 2018 permit volume to 424,100 units.
That was according to data released Wednesday jointly by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Factoring in seasonal variations,
the annual rate of permits was 1.352 million last month. Permits were down 2 percent from the upwardly revised rate for March.
But an 8 percent increase in the annual rate of permits was recorded compared to the upwardly revised rate for April 2017.
LendingTree Chief Economist Tendayi Kapfidze noted in a written statement that the three-month average for building permits was close to the highest since 2007.
Behind the month-over-month loss were multifamily permits, which retreated 7 percent. Residential permits were up 1 percent.
In the Northeast, the annual rate of permits was 92,000, plummeting from March by 32 percent — the most of any region. Permits tumbled 13 percent in the West to 336,000, while the Midwest was down 4 percent to 194,000.
But permit issuance picked up in the South by 12 percent to an annual rate of 730,000.
A seasonally adjusted 163,000 U.S. housing units were authorized but not yet started as of last month.
New housing units were started at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.287 million. Home starts dropped 4 percent from a month earlier.
“We expected some pullback this month after such a strong March report, but housing starts remain at very healthy levels in April,” National Association of Home Builders Chairman Randy Noel said in a written statement.
According to the report, the rate jumped 11 percent from a year earlier.
Last month’s retreat from March was the result of a 13 percent tumble in multifamily starts. One-unit starts inched up less than a percent.
Only the South registered a gain: 6 percent.
LendingTree’s Kapfidze noted, “Starts are stagnating despite inventory challenges in the existing homes market.”
A seasonally adjusted 1.124 million homes were under construction at the end of last month, according to the Census Bureau.
The 95,100 housing units for which construction was completed last month brought the year-to-date total to 362,900.
With seasonal adjustments the annual rate of completed construction was 1.257 million, up from an upwardly revised 1.223 million in March of this year and a downwardly revised 1.095 million in April of last year.
Single-family completed construction fell 4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 820,000. But construction of properties of five-or-more units jumped 19 percent to 425,000.
In the Midwest, the seasonally adjusted annual rate was 194,000, surging from March by 24 percent — the most of any region. A 9 percent jump in the South put the rate there at 641,000.
Completed construction in the West retreated 7 percent to a 300,000 rate, and the Northeast sank a fifth to 122,000.
