Something Has to Give.
By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.
Builders started construction on 147,400 privately owned housing units of all types in March, the biggest March since 2006. Housing starts are very seasonal and peak in the summer. This included:
- 99,100 single-family houses, which was below March 2021 (102,800 houses), but both were the biggest March housing starts since 2007.
- 46,700 units in buildings with 5+ units, such as rental apartments and condos. This was the biggest month – any month, not just March – since 1986, as the boom in multifamily building construction continues, unperturbed by rumors of some kind of urban exodus.
In terms of the seasonally adjusted annual rate, builders started construction at a rate of 1.79 million housing units of all types in March, the highest of any month since June 2006.
Single family houses v. units in multifamily buildings.
Construction starts of single-family houses, in terms of the seasonally adjusted annual rate, dipped from February to 1.20 million in March, in the same relatively high range that has prevailed since late 2020 and measures up there with 2007 (red line in the chart below).
Construction starts of units in buildings with five or more units, rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 574,000 units. This and the spike in January 2020 were the biggest multifamily housing starts since 1986 (purple line):
Construction and the industries that it supports are important parts of the US economy….
