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Housing starts climb almost 6% in April, but construction still lags below last year’s pace
Construction on new houses rose almost 6% in April, but builders still lagged behind last year’s pace despite a big drop in mortgage rates with the busy spring buying season in full throttle. Housing starts increased to an annual rate of 1.24 million last month, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Economists polled by MarketWatch has expected starts to rise at 1.21 million pace. Permits to build new houses, meanwhile, rose less than 1% in April to a 1.3 million annual rate. That suggests builders are unlikely to sharply speed up construction beyond current plans. Both housing starts and permits are running below ... (full story)
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Monthly New Residential Construction, April 2019
Privatelyâ€owned housing units authorized by building permits in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,296,000. This is 0.6 percent (±2.6 percent)* above the revised March rate of 1,288,000, but is 5.0 percent (±1.4 percent) below the April 2018 rate of 1,364,000. Singleâ€family authorizations in April were at a rate of 782,000; this is 4.2 percent (±1.2 percent) below the revised March figure of 816,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 467,000 in April. Housing Starts Privatelyâ€owned housing starts in April were at a seasonally adjusted ... (full story)