From Realtor Magazine Online, Daily Real Estate News May 20, 2008
U.S. housing starts rose 8.2 percent, to a 1.032 million-unit annual pace in April, from a 0.954 million rate in March. Housing starts are still down 30.6 percent from a year ago.
The April increase was entirely due to a jump in multifamily starts – up 40.5 percent. Single-family starts dropped 1.7 percent, to 692,000. The increase was concentrated in the Midwest – up 24.4 percent – and the West – up 18.5 percent. Starts were down 12.7 percent in the East and up 3.6 percent in the South.
Nevertheless, housing starts were doing better than analysts expected. That’s good news for U.S. economic growth, notes S&P Economics. "We do not think the [housing] problem is over, however, and still expect declines through the summer," wrote S&P economist Beth Ann Bovino in a May 16 note.
John Ryding, chief U.S. economist at Bear Stearns, advised against reading too much into the rise in construction permits and said in an e-mail note that the decline in housing starts over the last three months shows housing will continue to be a significant drag on growth in the second quarter.
Source: BusinessWeek.com (05/19/2008)
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