New Housing Construction Up
While construction of new homes and apartments increased in May for the first time after three months of decline, don’t break out into a celebratory dance just yet. New single-family homes construction was up 2.1 percent and multi-family units was up 19.7 percent in May.
The growth/decline in construction activity breaksdown regionally as follows:
Drier weather allowed more builders to start construction on new homes, but rising mortgage rates are likely to slow that building down. The numbers appear to be bearing this out. Permits for new construction dropped by 2.1 percent in May to an annual rate of 1.932 million units.
Additionally, David Seiders, chief economist for the home builders, said that sales could fall by 13 percent from last year’s record and that construction of single-family homes is likely to drop by about 9 percent from last year’s record level.