Annual New Housing Starts Drop to a Million in May

The seasonally adjusted rate of new building permits fell to 991,000, which is 6.4% below the downwardly revised April rate of 1.06 million and 1.9% below the May 2013 rate of 1.01 million. The consensus estimate called for 1.06 million new permits.

Single-family housing starts fell to an annualized rate of 625,000 in May, down 5.9% from the revised April rate of 664,000.

Permits for new single-family homes rose 3.7% in May, to an adjusted annual rate of 619,000, from a downwardly revised total of 597,000 in April.

Multifamily starts, for buildings with five or more units, a more volatile number than single-family starts, rose 19.2% year-over-year in May.

ALSO READ: Eight Housing Markets at All-Time Highs