April's housing starts came in weak

Housing starts dipped to a five-month low in April, revealing some weakness in the multi-family market, as well as mellow performance in building permits.

Housing starts came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,172,000 in April, down 2.6% from the revised March estimate of 1,203,000, and 0.7% above April 2016.

Single-family starts clocked in at 835,000, up 0.4% above the revised March figure of 832,000.

Multi-family starts were 328,000, down 9.6% from March and down 14.6% year-over-year.

Regionally, a major decline in the Northeast (and a smaller drop in the South) dragged the rest of the country down: starts were down 37.3% and 9.1%, respectively, compared to an increase of 41.1% in the Midwest and 5.4% in the West.

Meanwhile, building permits were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,229,000, down 2.5% from March and up 5.7% above April 2016. Single-family permits were down 4.5% from March.