US housing starts plummet 14% in May

ANKARA

US housing starts plummeted 14% in May, falling for the second consecutive month, according to a report by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Thursday.

The figure, which measures the change in the number of new residential buildings beginning construction, came in at almost 1.55 million, recording a massive decline of 14.4% from the revised April estimate of 1.81 million.

On an annual basis, the leading indicator of the housing industry represented a 3.5% decrease from May 2021.

Building permits, a key indicator for demand in the market, declined 7% to approximately 1.69 million in May.

The April figure was revised to more than 1.82 million.

Annually, building permits posted a 0.2% gain from May 2021.

Homebuilder sentiment in the US fell for the sixth consecutive month in June, reaching its lowest level in two years, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index released on Wednesday.