Ontario Construction News staff writer
New home construction across the U.S. fell 9.5 per cent in April, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. The decline is partially due to builders delaying projects because of a surge in lumber prices and supply constraints, economists say.
“Strong demand, a need for inventory and home builder optimism will support housing starts over the rest of 2021, while record-high lumber prices and supply chain bottlenecks may act as headwinds,” said Nancy Vanden Houten, lead economist at Oxford Economics.
The seasonally adjusted annual rate is 1.57 million units, down from a rate of 1.73 million units in March.
Building permits applications increased 0.3 per cent in April to an annual rate of 1.76 million units.
The price of lumber alone has added $35,872 to the price of an average single-family home, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
The weakness in April reflected a 13.4 per cent drop in construction starts for single-family homes – led by a 34 per cent drop in the Midwest. Construction of apartments with five units or more rose by 4 per cent to 470,000 units.
