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May 19, 2020US HOUSING STARTS AND BUILDING PERMITS, APRIL 2020 The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly announced today the new residential construction statistics for April 2020. Due to COVID-19, many businesses are operating on a limited capacity or have ceased operations completely.
BUILDING PERMITS
US residential building permits decreased 20.8 per cent in April 2020 compared to the revised March 2020 estimate, to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1,074,000. This is 19.2 per cent below the April 2019 estimate of 1,330,000.
Year-over-year (April 2019 vs April 2020), permits for single unit structures declined 16.4 per cent. Permits for structures with 5 units or more decreased 22.6 per cent and permits for structures with 2 to 4 units decreased 33.3 per cent over April 2019.
HOUSING STARTS
In April 2020, US housing starts declined 30.2 per cent compared to the revised March 2020 estimate, to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 891,000. This is 29.7 per cent below the April 2019 estimate of 1,267,000.
Year-over-year (April 2019 vs April 2020), starts for single unit structures declined 24.8 per cent, and starts for structures with 5 or more units declined 38.6 per cent.
Source: US Census Bureau New Residential Construction
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