Housing starts declined 9.5% in April to 1.57 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Compared with April 2020, during which much of the country was locked down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the housing start rate increased 67.3%.
Single family starts fell 13.4% during the month, and multifamily starts increased 0.8%.
The National Association of Home Builders blamed escalating prices for lumber and other construction materials for the overall decline.
“While housing starts were strong at the beginning of the year, due to home builders constructing homes that were sold pre-construction, higher costs and limited availability of building materials have now paused some projects,” NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz said in a statement.
Month-over-month, housing starts increased 8.4% in the Northeast and 3.9% in the South, but starts declined 9.9% in the Midwest and 4.1% in the West.
Overall permits issued during April grew 0.3% to 1.76 million (up 60.9% year-over-year), and housing completions fell 4.4% (up 21.7% year-over-year).
