Washington (awp / dpa) – Housing starts in the United States fell much more than expected in April, penalized by difficulties in the supply of construction materials globally despite continued strong demand, according to the Commerce Department data released Tuesday.
Last month, 1.569 million homes and private buildings began construction across the country, on an annualized, seasonally adjusted basis.
This represents a drop of 9.5% from March, whose data has been revised down, to 1.733 million (from 1.739). Housing starts reached their highest level in March since June 2006.
Analysts predicted a smaller drop, and expected 1.715 million housing starts.
Compared to April 2020, however, the increase is 67.3%. The American economy was then sealed off to stem the Covid-19 pandemic.
In addition, the number of building permits, a leading indicator of the market since they make it possible to anticipate the number of projects that will start, is stable compared to March (+ 0.3% to 1.760 million at an annualized rate), and 60.9% higher than in April 2020.
Since the start of the crisis, the real estate market has benefited from very low interest rates and the desire for space and greenery of many families who now have the possibility of teleworking.
But this enthusiasm is now being held back by the too low number of homes for sale, and by global supply difficulties, which are delaying work and driving up prices.
Homebuilders’ confidence remained stable in May, despite growing concerns over the prices and availability of building materials, according to the monthly index from the National Home Builders Association (NAHB) and Wells Fargo, released. Monday.
The price of lumber used for construction sites has “tripled in recent months,” Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said on CNBC on Monday.
“I think we will see a lot of construction and we will see people come back to the real estate market (…), sell their houses again,” he added.
afp / rp
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