US housing starts and new home sales data for May 2023 both show a turn-a-round point from the slow-down of mid-2022, when lending rates started to rise.
Total housing starts in the US for May 2023 shot up by +22% from the previous month, to 1.631 million units, compared to the 1.340 million units reported for April, and were up +6% from the May 2022 rate of 1.543 million units.
An indicator of growing construction activity to come, building permits also increased, up by more than +5%, at 1.491 million units from the April rate of 1.417 million. This is -13% below the May 2022 rate of 1.708 million.
These permits will eventually become starts and will help to underpin residential construction.
Still very high compared to historical, housing completions grew by +9.5% from April, rising to an estimated annual rate of 1.518 million housing units.