New home construction and project permits fall to record lows in April

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New home construction saw a few dramatic drops in April, setting record lows for both housing starts and permits issued for new projects, the Commerce Department said today.

New home and apartment building fell 12.8% last month, to its lowest numbers in 50 years, with a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 458,000 units, the department said in its monthly report on new residential construction.

Applications for new building permits dropped 3.3 %, to an annual rate of 494,000, another record low, the report says.

Despite the record lows set last month, there is some hope for the construction industry in the building of single-family homes, which increased for the second month in a row. Single-family home construction rose 2.8% to an annual rate of 368,000 in April, after a modest 0.3% increase in March and no change in February, the department said.

Multifamily home construction saw another month of reeling decline, dropping 46.1% to an annual rate of 90,000 units, the report says. In March, multifamily home building took a 23% plunge, the department said.

The bulk of the plunge was seen in the Northeastern part of the nation, where housing construction dropped 30.6%.

The West was the only part of the country showing an increase in new home construction, with a 42.5% bump. New home building fell 21.4% in the Midwest and 21.1% in the South. To see what states make up each of region of the U.S. in the department’s report, click here.

-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles