US home building slowed in April amid a steep drop in the construction of apartments that had surged in March, according to government data released Wednesday.
The building slowdown suggested April’s housing construction could contribute less than expected to overall economic growth in the second quarter.
Total housing starts fell 3.7 percent for the month to an annual pace of 1.3 million, seasonally adjusted, the Commerce Department said in a monthly report.
The result disappointed economists, who had instead been expecting a decrease of only 0.8 percent, but was still 10.5 percent above the pace of construction in the same month last year.
Construction in the all-important single-family segment held steady, rising only 0.1 percent to a rate of 894,000 units.
But multi-unit dwellings fell 12.6 percent to 374,000 units, offsetting almost all of the March increase.
Permits for single-family homes — one of the most closely watched figures in the monthly report, as it signals construction in the pipeline — fell 1.8 percent, matching analyst expectations.
The construction figures are subject to a high degree of uncertainty and officials caution that a trend may take as many as six months to appear.
Homebuilding jumped 17.2 percent in the South, the lone region to see any increase — but plunged nearly 30 percent in the Midwest, where single-family construction fell faster than apartments.
Source: AFP