US Housing Starts, Permits Plunge To 5 Year Lows

Having already collapsed in March, analysts expected further terrible weakness in both housing starts and building permits in April as the impact of lockdowns really escalated, and the data did indeed come in ugly.
  • Housing Starts fell 30.2% MoM in April (worse than the 26.0% drop expected and accelerating considerably from the 22.3% drop in March). This is a record drop.
  • Building Permits fell 20.8% MoM in April (better than the 25.9% expected)
Source: Bloomberg
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