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Slowdown in Residential Construction Centers On Single-Family Houses. Multifamily Flattens at Highest Level Since 1986.

May 18, 2023

by Wolf Richter Wolf Street

Single-family construction still dominates, but its share of residential construction falls to the lowest in decades.\

Construction starts of single-family houses and multifamily buildings is going through an overall slowdown from a big surge, split two ways:

— A clear slowdown in single-family starts — A flattening out of multifamily starts at the highest levels since 1986.

Total residential construction starts in April (black line) jumped to 127,100 housing units, not seasonally adjusted, the fourth month in a row of gains, which is typical for the season. But year-over-year, they were down 22.6%, in part due to the “base effect”: Housing starts normally peak in the summer, but last year they spiked in April (the “base” for this calculation) to levels not seen since June 2006.