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  • Not a Recession Scenario: Multifamily Construction Starts Spike to Highest Since 1986, Single-Family Starts Bounce

Not a Recession Scenario: Multifamily Construction Starts Spike to Highest Since 1986, Single-Family Starts Bounce

June 21, 2023

by Wolf Richter Wolf Street

Another sign the economy is flying a cruising altitude and refuses to land, even with short-term interest rates over 5%.

Seasonally, May is one of the best month for construction starts of single-family houses and multi-family buildings. Typically, residential construction starts hit their annual peaks between April and July. Today, the Census Bureau released the May constructions starts, and they were a blowout, with even single-family construction starts further bouncing off their January lows, and multifamily spiking to the highest level since the mania of the mid-1980s. Both are far above any kind of recessionary scenario.