US home construction up 8% in April over March

16 May 2008 14:41  [Source: ICIS news]

WASHINGTON (ICIS news)--US new home construction took an unexpected upturn in April with housing starts at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.03m units, an increase of 8.2% compared with March, the US Commerce Department said on Friday.

 

The department also reported that the number of housing permits issued nationwide in April rose by 4.9%, also on a seasonally adjusted and annual basis, to 978,000 compared with the March rate of 932,000.

 

The increase in housing permits is generally regarded as an indicator of near-term prospects for the home building sector, and the build in April permits suggests that some strength is returning to the residential construction industry. 

 

Building permits are issued by local governments when contractors are ready to begin construction of a new home.

 

Home building has been in sharp decline since the last quarter of 2005.

 

The housing market is a key downstream consumer sector for the chemicals industry, driving demand for a wide variety of chemicals and chemicals-based products such as plastic pipe, insulation, paints and coatings, adhesives and synthetic fibres, among many others.

 

Although April’s figures for housing starts and building permits show a rare upward movement for the sector, the home building industry is still well below its performance level of just a year ago. 

 

Housing starts in April were nearly 31% below the same month a year ago, and building permits last month were 34% below the same month in 2007.

 

US Housing starts

 

	Apr ‘08	Mar ‘08	Mar-Apr ‘08	Apr ‘07	Apr ’07 to Apr ‘08
US Housing starts	1.03m*	.954m	8.2%	1.48m*	-30.6%

* Seasonally adjusted & annualised

 

($1 = €0.65)

 

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