Housing Starts Ease In April After Strong First Quarter

The pace of home construction eased in April as builders took a breather after a strong start to the year. The U.S. Commerce Department reports that housing starts ticked down 2.6 percent to a 1.17 million annual pace, and stood just 0.7 percent higher than in the same month last year. However, builders broke ground on more single-family homes in April, with starts running at a pace of 835,000 that month. That’s a sign builders see an improvement in homeownership, since most multifamily units are built for rent.

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