- March’s housing starts numbers bring a mixed bag of news. Completions were up, which means homebuyers can again look forward to much needed new supply. On the other hand, starts were down, which means medium-run supply might dip in the second half of the year.
- The real gem of March’s report was building permits, which boomed 17% year-over-year. Permits are important because they are the earliest signals of long-run new housing supply, so any significant movement is something to take note of. Homebuyers should rest assured that new home building will continue to relieve their supply constraint in the long-run.
Housing starts and completions were both up over the year in March, growing by 9.2% and 13.4%, respectively. That said, neither of these numbers are statistically significant. While good news on the whole, starts were down 6.8% over the month, which means medium-run supply might dip in the second half of the year. Both starts and completions have a long way to go before being back to normal, with starts falling to 62.3% and completions rising to 64.9% of their respective 50-year average.
The real gem of March’s report was building permits, which boomed 17% year-over-year. Permits are important because they are the earliest signals of long-run new housing supply, so any significant movement is something to take note of. What’s more, this number is statistically, so homebuyers should rest assured that new home building will continue to relieve their supply constraint in the long-run.
