by Housing completions were a bright spot, up 5.4% from April
WASHINGTON — Housing construction activity was down again in May compared to a year ago, reflecting an ongoing slowdown in housing permits, housing starts and housing completions.
Data released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Commerce showed that building permits for privately owned housing units totaled 1,393,000, down 1% from 1,407,000 in May 2024, and down 2% from the revised April rate of 1,422,000. Of these, 898,000, or 64.4% of the May total were single-family homes, compared with 444,000 buildings with five or more units.
Housing starts were down 4.6% during the same period, to 1,256,000 compared with 1,316,000 in May 2024, and down 9.8% below a revised April rate of 1,382,000. Of these, 924,000, or 73.5% of the May total, were for single-family homes, while 316,000 were buildings with five or more units.
Housing completions totaled 1,526,000, 2.2% below 1,561,000 in May 2024, but up 5.4% from a revised April estimate of 1,448,000. Of these, 1,027,000, or 67.3% of the May total were single family homes, while 487,000 were for buildings with five units or more.
New home construction typically spurs furniture sales as people are furnishing rooms within a different floor plan.
Thus, these numbers could affect furniture sales in the typical early to mid-summer months when sales already slow except for the Fourth of July and Labor Day holiday sales periods. As housing completions typically lag several months behind housing starts, there also could be a slowdown later in the year with fewer people moving into new homes.
However, much also depends on existing home sales in the coming months, which also tend to spur people to move into new construction.
By region, the activity was as follows:
+ In the Northeast, there were 124,000 residential permits issued in May, up 3.3% from 120,000 in May 2024, but down 8.8% from 136,000 in April. There were 105,000 units started, up 6.1% from 99,000 started in May 2024 and down 40% from 175,000 started in April. There were 151,000 units completed, up 48% from 102,000 completed in May 2024 and up .7% from 150,000 completed in April.
+ In the Midwest, there were 213,000 building permits issued, up 16.4% from 183,000 in May 2024 and up 9.8% from 194,000 in April. There were 184,000 units started, up 26% from 146,000 in May 2024 and down 10.2% from 205,000 in April. There were 188,000 units completed, down 9.6% from 208,000 completed in May 2024 and up 9.9% from 171,000 completed in April.
+ In the South, there were 743,000 building permits issued, down 4.9% from 781,000 in May 2024 and down 2.5% from 762,000 in April. There were 693,000 units started, down 7.2% from 747,000 in May 2024 and down 10.5% from 774,000 in April. There were 755,000 units completed in May, down 13.3% from 871,000 completed in May 2024 and down 3.9% from 786,000 in April.
+ In the West, there were 313,000 residential building permits issued in May, down 3.1% from 323,000 in May 2024 and down 5.2% from 330,000 in April. There were 274,000 units started, down 15.4% from 324,000 in May 2024 and up 15.1% from 238,000 in April. There were 432,000 units completed, up 13.7% from 380,000 completed in May 2024 and up 26.7% from 341,000 completed in April.
