By Dees Stribling | MHN Online
The Census Bureau reported on Friday that private housing starts came in at an annualized rate of 1.072 million units in April, a sizable 13.2 percent upswing from March, when starts were an annualized 947,000 units. The April 2014 rate was also 26.4 percent higher than the same month a year earlier.
Both single-family and multifamily starts were up, though multifamily—always the more volatile of the two—were up more. Single-family housing starts in April were at an annualized rate of 649,000 units, 0.8 percent above the March figure. The April rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 413,000, which was a monthly increase of 42.9 percent.
The issuance of building permits for private housing, which is a forward-looking indicator of the housing market, were at an annualized rate of 1.08 million in April. That’s 8 percent above the March rate of 1 million units and is 3.8 percent above the April 2013 rate.
