US Housing Starts and Building Permits both declined in December (-1.4% MoM and -1.6% MoM respectively) with starts better than expected but forward-looking permits below expectations. This is the 3rd straight month of declines in permits and 4th straight drop in starts...
Source: Bloomberg
Total Starts and Permits hit new cycle lows, back to the 2020 COVID lockdown levels...
Source: Bloomberg
Single-family Building Permits tumbled for the 10th straight month (while multi-family starts rebounded notably in December). The pictyure was the opposite for Housing starts where single-family starts soared 11.3% MoM while multi-family starts plunged 18.9% MoM...
Source: Bloomberg
Judging by homebuilder sentiment, building permits are not bouncing back anytime soon...
Source: Bloomberg
Finally, to summarize, in 2022, about 1 million one-family houses were started, down 10.6% from 2021.
Is that what Jay Powell wants? More scarcity, less supply?
