Housing Starts And Permits Report Mostly Positive

Despite headline declines, the housing starts and permits report for April is mostly positive. First the negatives: starts fell 3.7 percent in the month to a lower-than-expected 1.287 million annualized rate while permits fell 1.8 percent to an as-expected 1.352 million rate. The decline for both starts and permits reflects give back from multi-units which fell sharply in April after rising sharply in March.

Steady readings for single-family homes are the positives in today's data. Starts here posted a 0.1 percent increase to an 894,000 rate while single-family permits, which are the best news in the report, rose 0.9 percent to an 859,000 rate. But not all the single-family news is positive as completions fell 4.0 percent in the month to an 820,000 rate for a decline that is not welcome in a housing market starved of supply.

But behind all the volatility in the numbers is a housing sector that continues to climb at a solid rate, reflected in year-on-year change that shows total starts up 10.5 percent and permits up 7.7 percent.