by Calculated Risk on 6/16/2021 08:37:00 AM

From the Census Bureau: Permits, Starts and Completions

Housing Starts:
Privately‐owned housing starts in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,572,000. This is 3.6 percent above the revised April estimate of 1,517,000 and is 50.3 percent above the May 2020 rate of 1,046,000. Single‐family housing starts in May were at a rate of 1,098,000; this is 4.2 percent above the revised April figure of 1,054,000. The May rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 465,000.

Building Permits:
Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,681,000. This is 3.0 percent below the revised April rate of 1,733,000, but is 34.9 percent above the May 2020 rate of 1,246,000. Single‐family authorizations in May were at a rate of 1,130,000; this is 1.6 percent below the revised April figure of 1,148,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 494,000 in May.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows single and multi-family housing starts for the last several years.

Multi-family starts (red, 2+ units) increased slightly in May compared to April.   Multi-family starts were up 50% year-over-year in May.

Single-family starts (blue) increased in May, and were up 51% year-over-year (starts slumped at the beginning of the pandemic).   

The second graph shows total and single unit starts since 1968.

The second graph shows the huge collapse following the housing bubble, and then the eventual recovery (but still not historically high).

Total housing starts in May were below expectations, and starts in March and April were revised down.

I'll have more later …