US housing starts fall more quickly than expected in April

Homebuilding activity in the States weakened more than expected last month.

According to the US Department of Commerce, in seasonally adjusted terms, housing starts dipped at a month-on-month pace of 0.2% to reach an annualised pace of 1.724m.

That was significantly less than the 1.77m print anticipated by economists, although starts were up by 14.6% on a year earlier.

Weakness was centred on single-family housing starts in April, which dropped by 7.3% on the month to reach 1.1m.

The rate of housing starts for March was revised lower from a preliminary estimate of 1.793m to 1.724m.

By regions of the country, starts declined by 23.2% versus March in the Northeast and by 22.0% in the Midwest, but rose by 10.6% in the South and by 3.3% in the West.

Meanwhile, in April, building permits, a leading indicator for activity, fell by 3.2% on the month to reach a clip of 1.819m.