National + Apartments | May 20, 2020

Construction costs are up more than 7% year-over-year, according to both Turner Construction and Rider Levett Bucknall

Housing Starts Post Steepest Monthly Decline on Record

Housing starts for April posted their steepest monthly decline on record, according to Commerce Department figures released Tuesday. However, the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) chief economist, Robert Dietz, noted that the 30.2% drop to an annualized pace of 891,000 units was “somewhat better than forecast.”

Single-family starts decreased 25.4% to a 650,000-unit seasonally adjusted annual rate, the lowest single-family starts rate since the first quarter of 2015. In the multifamily sector, construction starts decreased 40.5% to a 241,000-unit pace.

“Despite today’s numbers, there is an undercurrent of long-term positivity in the housing market that will likely allow for a strong rebound,” said NAHB chairman Dean Mon. “Our builder confidence index has already shown signs of a turnaround. Housing was showing signs of momentum before the pandemic and is poised to lead the economic recovery as virus mitigation efforts take hold and more states take gradual steps to reopen.”

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 13-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 15-20 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).