Steel Markets
![](https://www.steelmarketupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/media/k2/items/src/dc0b15bc5f53d66f9145a83c29be96f1.jpg)
Housing Starts Fall in March but Permits Rise
Written by Sandy Williams
April 17, 2017
Housing starts fell 6.8 percent in March, dropping further than expected. The rate was the biggest decline in three years but still 9.2 percent higher than the rate in March 2016. According to the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,215,000.
Single family housing starts fell 6.2 percent while construction starts for buildings with five units or more fell 6.1 percent. Declines were heaviest in the Midwest with total starts down 16.2 percent and single family housing plummeting 35.0 percent. The Northeast was the only region to see total starts increase with a jump of 12.9 percent entirely from multi-family housing.
Permit authorizations, an indicator of future construction, were up 3.6 percent from February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,260,000. Building permits increased 16.7 percent in the West, 15.5 percent in the Northeast, and 6.0 percent in the South. The Midwest trailed the rest with a decline of 22.0 percent.
Permit growth coincides with continued confidence in the market by builders. The National Association of Home Builders reported sentiment falling three points to 68 on the April Housing Market Index after an unusually high March reading.
“Today’s numbers are aligned with our builder confidence metric, which contracted slightly this month but is on solid footing overall,” said Granger MacDonald, chairman of the NAHB.
“The three-month moving average for single-family starts has reached a post-recession high, which shows that this sector is continuing to firm,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “We can expect further gains in single-family production throughout the year, while multifamily starts should level off.”
![](https://www.steelmarketupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/sandy-williams.jpeg)
Sandy Williams
Read more from Sandy WilliamsLatest in Steel Markets
![](https://www.steelmarketupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/images/Featured_News_Icons/GrafTech.jpg)
GrafTech’s Q2 loss widens in ‘challenging’ business environment
GrafTech cited a “challenging” part of the business cycle as its net loss widened in the second quarter.
![](https://www.steelmarketupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/CRU-Logo-2023-07-21-at-4.35.41-PM.png)
CRU: Poor steel margins continue to push down raw material prices
Both iron ore and coking coal prices fell this week because of resistance from buyers. Iron ore prices have continued to fall throughout the past week, following sharp declines in steel prices in China, given no new policy announcement from the ‘Third Plenum’ meeting.
![](https://www.steelmarketupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/canacero-logo.png)
Op-Ed: The myth of the Mexican steel surge
We have heard ominous warnings about a flood of Mexican steel threatening the US market. It's the kind of rhetoric that gets thrown around often with little regard for the facts. The reality is that the Mexican steel surge is simply not happening, and the US steel industry has consistently maintained a significant trade surplus in finished products with Mexico. In 2023 alone, this surplus exceeded $3 billion.
![](https://www.steelmarketupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/CRU-Logo-2023-07-21-at-4.35.41-PM.png)
CRU: Demand weakness continues to weigh on global sheet markets
Demand has remained persistently weak across the globe for sheet steel, weighing on prices. US HR coil prices fell the furthest this week as high-volume, low-priced deals were transacted as mills looked to fill order books and competed with one another amid relative demand weakness. Meanwhile, European prices were also down due to low demand […]
![](https://www.steelmarketupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/images/Featured_News_Icons/graph_up_arrow.png)
Influx of coated products fuels recent import surge
Steel imports fell back in May from April’s recent high but remained elevated compared to the levels seen over the past year. A deeper dive into the data confirms what SMU has been hearing from sources: Coated sheet is driving the recent rise in overall import levels.