US Apartment Construction Drops Significantly in May

USA: The USA Census Bureau’s May report highlighted a significant decline in multifamily housing construction. Permits, starts, units under construction, and completions all fell compared to April.

Permits for buildings with 5 or more units dropped to 382,000 units, half the number issued in February 2023, and were down 31.4 percent from May 2023. Additionally, permits for buildings with 2 to 4 units totalled 55,000 in May, showing a slight decrease from April and a 3.5 percent decline year-over-year. Multifamily housing starts for buildings with 5 or more units also decreased by 10.3 percent from April and were 51.7 percent lower than the previous year.

In contrast, single-family housing construction showed a mixed trend. While single-family permits fell by 2.9 percent month-over-month, they increased by 3.4 percent year-over-year, reaching 949,000 units on a seasonally adjusted basis. The revised permits figure for April was higher at 977,000 units. Overall, the report indicates ongoing challenges in the multifamily housing sector, while the single-family housing sector showed some resilience.

Source: USA Census Bureau