U.S. Housing Starts Rebounded Less Than Expected in May
June 16 2021 - 9:11AM
Dow Jones News
By Xavier Fontdegloria
Construction of new homes in the U.S. increased in May, partly
reversing April's fall, amid scarcity of building materials and
labor shortages that have weighed on construction activity, data
from the Commerce Department showed Wednesday. Here are the main
takeaways from the report:
--Housing starts, a measure of U.S. homebuilding, rose 3.6% in
May compared with April, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of
1.572 million. The reading is below the consensus forecast from The
Wall Street Journal poll of economists, who expected starts to rise
3.9% to an annual pace of 1.63 million.
--The current level of starts is 50.3% above compared with the
same month a year earlier due to low-base effects in May 2020.
--In April, housing starts stood at a revised 1.517 million from
an earlier estimate of 1.569 million.
--Monthly housing starts data are volatile and are often
revised. May data came with a margin of error of 10.3 percentage
points.
--Residential permits, which can be a bellwether for future home
construction, decreased 3% in May compared with April, to a
seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.681 million. The figure misses
economists' forecasts of a 1.7% decline to an annual pace of 1.73
million.
--U.S. housing starts report for May compares with June's
indicator compiled by the National Association of Home Builders,
which showed confidence in the single-family housing market
decreasing slightly.
--Home builders are trying to ramp up construction amid strong
buyer demand and scarce supply of homes for sale, but shortages of
labor and increasing prices for building materials pose some
downside risks for the months ahead, economists say.
Write to Xavier Fontdegloria at xavier.fontdegloria@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 16, 2021 09:02 ET (13:02 GMT)
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