March Housing Starts Dip 7%, Permits Up 17%

By Paul Ausick Updated Apr 28, 12:57AM EDT · Published Apr 18, 9:00AM EDT

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

[cnxvideo id=”625457″ placement=”ros”]The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Tuesday morning that new housing starts in March fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.215 million, a decrease of 6.8% from the upwardly revised February rate of 1.303 million and an increase of 9.2% compared with the March 2016 rate of 1.113 million. The consensus estimate from a survey of economists expected a rate of around 1.262 million.

The revision to the February rate added 15,000 new housing starts from the previously reported total.

PNC Financial is forecasting housing starts of just over 1.2 million this year, up 3.6% from 2016. Affordability remains good, although the effective cost of new homes will gradually increase over the next few years as mortgage rates move higher.

The seasonally adjusted rate of new building permits rose in March to 1.260 million, up 3.6% from the upwardly revised February rate of 1.216 million and up 17% from the March 2016 rate of 1.077 million. The consensus estimate called for 1.250 million new building permits.

[nativounit]

Single-family housing starts rose in January to an annualized rate of 821,000, down 6.2% from the revised February rate of 875,000. Single-family starts rose 9.3% year over year in March.

Permits for new single-family homes fell 1.1% month over month in March, to an adjusted annual rate of 823,000, from a revised total of 832,000 in February. The rate rose 13.5% year over year.

Multifamily starts for buildings with five or more units increased by 9.1% year over year in March and fell by 6.1% compared with February.

[wallst_email_signup]

DISCLOSURE:

Customer must fund their Active Invest account with at least $50 within 45 days of opening the account. Receive a minimum of $15. Probability of member receiving $3,000 is a probability of 0.026% If you don’t make a selection in 45 days, you’ll no longer qualify for the promo. Percentages for the $3,000 are subject to decrease. See full terms and conditions.

INVESTMENTS ARE NOT FDIC INSURED • ARE NOT BANK GUARANTEED • MAY LOSE VALUE Brokerage and Active investing products offered through SoFi Securities LLC, member FINRA(www.finra.org)/SIPC(www.sipc.org). Advisory services are offered by SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Information about SoFi Wealth’s advisory operations, services, and fees is set forth in SoFi Wealth’s current Form ADV Part 2 (Brochure), a copy of which is available upon request and at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov. Probability of Member receiving $1,000 is a probability of 0.026%; If you don’t make a selection in 30 days, you’ll no longer qualify for the promo. Customer must fund their account with a minimum of $50.00 to qualify. Other fees, such as exchange fees, may apply. Please view our fee disclosure to view a full listing of fees. Investing in alternative investments and/or strategies may not be suitable for all investors and involves unique risks, including the risk of loss. An investor should consider their individual circumstances and any investment information, such as a prospectus, prior to investing. Interval Funds are illiquid instruments, the ability to trade on your timeline may be restricted. Brokerage and Active investing products offered through SoFi Securities LLC, Member FINRA(www.finra.org) /SIPC(www.sipc.org). There are limitations with fractional shares to consider before investing. During market hours fractional share orders are transmitted immediately in the order received. There may be system delays from receipt of your order until execution and market conditions may adversely impact execution prices. Outside of market hours orders are received on a not held basis and will be aggregated for each security then executed in the morning trade window of the next business day at market open. Share will be delivered at an average price received for executing the securities through a single batched order. Fractional shares may not be transferred to another firm. Fractional shares will be sold when a transfer or closure request is initiated. Please consider that selling securities is a taxable event. Options involve risks, including substantial risk of loss and the possibility an investor may lose the entire investment Before trading options please review the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options Investing in an Initial Public Offering (IPO) involves substantial risk, including the risk of loss. Further, there are a variety of risk factors to consider when investing in an IPO, including but not limited to, unproven management, significant debt, and lack of operating history. For a comprehensive discussion of these risks please refer to SoFi Securities’ IPO Risk Disclosure Statement This should not be considered a recommendation to participate in IPOs and investors should carefully read the offering prospectus to determine whether an offering is consistent with their investment objectives, risk tolerance, and financial situation. New offerings generally have high demand and there are a limited number of shares available for distribution to participants. Many customers may not be allocated shares and share allocations may be significantly smaller than the shares requested in the customer’s initial offer (Indication of Interest). For more information on the allocation process please visit IPO Allocation.

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.