May Housing Starts Jump in Northeast, Fall Elsewhere

Philadelphia Inquirer (06/18/08); Heavens, Alan J.
Led by a boom in multifamily building activity, the Census Bureau confirms that housing starts in the Northeast soared 61.5 percent in May from the previous month. Nationally, though, building permits decreased 1.3 percent in May from April and 36.3 percent from May of last year; while new construction was off 3.3 percent month-to-month and 32.1 percent year-over-year to a rate of 975,000 units. Global Insight Inc.'s Patrick Newport notes that estimates of regional housing starts were not as reliable as regional permits estimated, adding, "A whopping 153 percent jump in multifamily starts, for example, is behind the increase in starts for the Northeast. It is impossible to tell, however, if the weather, sampling error or a developer pouring concrete on a major multi-unit project was behind May's increase."