Updated on 04/16/2020 at 13:56
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Home building in U.S collapsed in March due to the crisis of the coronavirus (COVID-19), showing a contraction of 22.3% compared to the previous month.
He Department of Commerce reported Thursday that the seasonally adjusted home construction rate for March was 1.2 million units, compared to 1.56 million in February. The construction of single-family units fell 17.5% and that of apartments and condominiums fell 32.1%.
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The figures offer a bleak picture for the housing sector, at a time when the crisis of coronavirus left more than 20 million Americans unemployed in the past four weeks.
There was a 6.1% decrease in the number of completed homes, an indicator that many units were half built. The decrease was 15% among single-family units, which suggests that if economic activity does not improve soon, there will be semi-built housing complexes in large American cities, a phenomenon that also occurred after the 2008 financial crisis.
The construction activity will likely continue to decline. There was a 6.8% drop in authorizations to start construction in March.
Construction companies are nervous. A gauge of confidence in the sector, released Wednesday by The National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo, lost 42 points in April to 30, the most pronounced change in the history of that index. Any number below 50 indicates a contraction.
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