Quikrete Industry Dashboard (5/20)
It was a busy week of macroeconomic metrics, and the latest edition of the Quikrete Industry Dashboard has been adjusted accordingly.
The residential construction numbers lend themselves to mixed interpretations. Total starts were up for the month and down for the year. Single-family starts were down for the month, and up dramatically for the year — from a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 876,000 in April 2023, to 1,031,000 in April 2024.
After the report, the National Association of Home Builders said it anticipates tepid multifamily activity.
“Moving forward, the multifamily market will see additional declines for construction volume, while the pace of completions remains elevated,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “April marked the fifth consecutive month for which the seasonally adjusted rate of multifamily completions was above 500,000. This additional rental supply will help lower shelter inflation, which is the last leg of the inflation policy challenge.”
The Monthly Retail Sales charts show year over year gains in April for retailers classified as NAICS 444 (building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers). But for hardware stores, the most recent month of data (February) shows a year-over-year dip.
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Coming next: The National Association of Realtors will release its report for existing home sales for April on May 22. For march, existing homer sales were at a rate of 4.19 million.
