Housing starts in May fell 0.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.2 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Compared with May 2018, starts are down 4.7%.
Building permits had an uptick of 0.3% in May to a rate of 1.3 million, but declined 0.5% year-over-year.
“While the increase in permits is a positive sign for the housing market, there are still affordability concerns throughout the country, especially in high-cost areas,” National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Chairman Greg Ugalde said in a statement.
NAHB expects single-family housing starts to remain flat through the rest of 2019.
Regionally, May housing starts increased 11.2% in the South and declined 45.5%, 8.0% and 2.4% in the Northeast, Midwest and West, respectively.
Housing completions fell 9.5% in May to a rate of 1.2 million and are down 2.8% compared with May 2018.
The full housing starts report can be found here.
