Housing starts increased 5.8% in December 2020 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.669 million units, according to www.cnbc.com. The rate was higher than economists’ expectations of 1.56 million units.
Applications for building permits, a good indication of future activity, rose 4.5% to 1.709 million units.
Single-family starts surged 12% to 1.338 million units, and multifamily starts fell 12% to 312,000 units.
Although the housing market and manufacturing continue to be top performers during the COVID-19 crisis, the pandemic is affecting availability of labor at construction sites as sick workers stay home. A Jan. 20 survey showed a dip in confidence among single-family homebuilders in January as they face “supply-side constraints related to lumber and other material costs, a lack of affordable lots and labor shortages that delay delivery times and put upward pressure on home prices.”
