U.S. new-home construction fell in September on a decline in the South that may reflect disruptions from Hurricane Florence, government figures showed Wednesday.
Residential starts dropped 5.3% to 1.201 million on an annualized rate (estimates were for 1.21 million) after a downwardly revised 1.268 million pace in the prior month.
Multifamily home starts fell 15.2%; single-family home starts declined 0.9%. Permits, a proxy for future construction of all types of homes, slipped 0.6% to 1.241 million rate (estimates were for 1.275 million) after a 1.249 million pace in the prior report, reflecting a decline in multifamily permits.
Analysts had forecast a decline in housing starts after Hurricane Florence, which made landfall in North Carolina on Sept. 14, caused damage and flooding throughout the Carolinas. Those states are part of the report’s South region, which accounts for about half of starts and showed a 13.7% drop from the prior month. Hurricane Michael, which struck Florida and other southeastern states last week, will probably affect activity in October.
While the impact of the storms on housing data is likely to be temporary, the decline in starts largely reflected slower construction in multifamily housing, a category that tends to be volatile. In addition, permits for single-family homes rose 2.9% last month, the most in a year, on gains in the Northeast and West, indicating builders have a steady pipeline of construction.
That indicates housing could contribute to the economy toward the end of the year as consumer demand, helped by a solid job market, lower taxes and post-storm rebuilding, overshadows headwinds including rising mortgage rates and property prices.
A decline in lumber prices from a record earlier this year may also be providing some comfort to developers. A gauge of homebuilders’ confidence rose in October for the first time in five months, according to a National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo report released Tuesday.
Single-family home starts fell to an 871,000 rate from 879,000 the prior month.
Groundbreaking on multifamily homes, such as apartment buildings and condominiums, dropped to an annual rate of 330,000.
The Midwest region also posted a decline in starts, while starts rose in Northeast and West to the highest levels since March.
