The Census Bureau, Washington, D.C., reported that privately‐owned housing starts in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,420,000 which is 0.8 percent below the revised February estimate of 1,432,000 and is 17.2 percent below the March 2022 rate of 1,716,000.
Permits were also down nearly nine percent in March.
“We expect choppiness for single-family construction in the months ahead, with the 2023 data posting significant year-over-year weakness before improving on a sustained basis,” the National Association of Home Builders‘s chief economist Robert Dietz told the Washington Examiner. “The multifamily market softened in March, and we anticipate ongoing declines for apartment construction in the months ahead due to tighter lending conditions in the commercial real estate sector.”
