US Housing Starts Rebound To Highest Since July 2006, Rental Permits Tumble After February's unexpected plunge (weather-driven), Housing Starts and Permits bounced back in March but in a very different manner. After a downwardly-revised 10.3% plunge in February, Housing Starts spiked 19.4% MoM in March (much better than the +13.4% MoM expected). After an upwardly-revised 8.8% drop in February, Building Permits jumped 2.7% MoM (modestly better than the +1.7% expected) Source: Bloomberg This pushed Housing Starts to their highest since July 2006 (but the forward-looking building permits remains well off its post-pandemic-plunge spike highs),,, Source: Bloomberg Both single- and multi-family starts bounced back in March... But, while single-family permits were up 4.6% MoM, multi-family permits dropped 3.6%... It would appear homebuilders are shifting away from 'rental nation'. Are soaring, record-high lumber prices stalling the optimism of homebuilders going forward? Tyler Durden Fri, 04/16/2021 - 08:43