May Housing Starts

May Housing Starts
Updated: 18-Jun-25 09:27 ET

Highlights

Housing starts declined 9.8% month-over-month in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.256 million units (Briefing.com consensus 1.356 million).
Building permits declined 2.0% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.393 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.411 million).

Key Factors

The change in single-unit starts by region: Northeast (-9.9%); Midwest (+1.4%); South (-1.7%); and West (+10.2%).
The change in single-unit permits by region: Northeast (-3.3%); Midwest (0.0%); South (-2.4%); and West (-5.1%).
Multi-unit starts declined 29.7% month-over-month, while multi-unit permits decreased 0.8% month-over-month.
The number of units under construction at the end of the period decreased 1.4% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.375 million.

Big Picture

The key takeaway from the report is that housing starts are weak, sitting at their lowest level since May 2020; moreover, a 2.7% month-over-month decline in single-unit permits doesn't connote an encouraging outlook for starts.