For May 2021, total residential starts in the US increased by more than +50% to a 1.57 million annualized rate, from 1.05 million in the same month one year ago.
Similarly showing great improvement, permits for future homebuilding in May, were up by +35%, to a rate of 1.68 million units, compared to May 2020 when it was 1.25 million.
May starts of single-family housing, the largest share of the market and construction method which uses the most wood, jumped by +39% compared to May 2020, at 1.1 million annualized, compared to an abysmal 675,000.
Slowing down from the previous month but improving markedly over one-year-ago, single-family permits were at 1.1 million units, a +32% improvement compared to May 2020 when it was 745,000 units.