Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau, overall housing starts in May decreased 9.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.26 million units.
Single-family starts increased 0.4% to a 924,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate and are down 7.3% compared to May 2024. Multifamily 5-plus unit starts are up 14.5%, as more prospective homebuyers are slower to purchase homes, according to analysis by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
“Our latest builder survey shows that development and market conditions remain a major concern for builders, with consumer confidence lower and elevated interest rates for buyers and builders,” says Buddy Hughes, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a homebuilder and developer from Lexington, North Carolina. “Almost 40% of homebuilders reduced sales prices in the last month in order to offset difficult housing affordability conditions.”
Regionally, combined single-family and multifamily starts were 21.1% higher in the Northeast, 10.8% higher in the Midwest, 6.8% lower in the South and 1.6% lower in the West, yearly.
