Housing Experts Disappointed With Construction Growth In March

The market’s supply woes have continued as housing starts dropped 6.8 percent last month.

HousingWire reports that housing experts are disappointed with the activity levels since the market is in desperate need of new inventory.

“Home prices have risen by 41% and rents have climbed 17% over the past five years at a time when the typical worker wage has grown by only 11%,” said Lawrence Yun, National Association of Realtors chief economist. “To relieve housing costs, there simply needs to be more homes built.”

New home completions, though, were up 3.2 percent last month, as were permits, at 3.6 percent.

Mark Fleming, First American Finance chief economist, estimates that 1.5 million housing units need to be built per year to keep up with demand. Last month’s housing completions were 1.2 million.

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