Steel Markets
June 17, 2014
Housing Starts, Permits and Builder Confidence through May 2014
Written by Peter Wright
Total housing starts declined from 1,071,000 in April to 1,001,000 in May but the three month moving average (3MMA) increased from 983,000 in April to 1,007,000 in May. It looks as though April was a bounce back from the severe winter delays and that May reverted to trend. Figure 1 shows total housing starts from 1960 and projected through 2018. At the present rate it will be the end of 2018 before total starts break through the 1.6 million annual rate line.
