Steel Markets

Housing Starts Rebound in August

September 18, 2019

Housing starts rebounded in August, jumping 12.3 percent from July and 6.6 percent from a year ago to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,364,000. Multifamily construction surged 30.9 percent and single-family starts 4.4 percent from July.

House2018 “Housing has been on an upswing in recent months as the pace of permits and starts has been rising since spring,” said National Association of Home Builders Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “While these are positive developments, single-family starts are down 2.7 percent year-to-date as the catchup process continues.”

Regional starts on a month-over-month basis were unchanged in the West and rose 30.5 percent in the Northeast, 15.4 percent in the Midwest and 14.9 percent in the South. On a year-to-date basis, starts rose 4.4 percent in the South, but declined 1.8 percent in the Northeast, 5.6 percent in the Midwest and 11.3 percent in the West.

Permit authorizations, a forecaster of new construction, increased 7.7 percent to a SAAR of 1,419,000 from July’s revised rate and were 12.0 percent above the August 2018 rate. Multi-family permits for five units or more jumped 14.9 percent and single-family permits 4.5 percent from July.

Regionally, only the West showed permit authorizations declining, falling 7.8 percent from the previous month. Permit authorizations increased 26.9 percent in the Northeast, 14.5 percent in the Midwest and 11.0 percent in the South. On a year-to-date basis, permits increased 5.7 percent in the Northeast and 1.6 percent in the South and declined 6.9 percent in the Midwest and 5.6 percent in the West.

“This solid report is in line with our latest survey on builder sentiment,” said NAHB Chairman Greg Ugalde. “However, builders continue to wrestle with affordability concerns stemming from excessive regulations and other supply-side challenges.”