New-home construction swung back to positive territory in April after a March slide, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said in a press release.   

New homes were built at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,360,000, up 5.7% from 1,287,000 in March but down 0.6% from 1,368,000 in April 2023.  

Single-family housing starts, meanwhile, came in at a rate of 1,031,000, down 0.4% from 1,035,000 in March but up 17.7% from 876,000 in April 2023. 

Multifamily residential starts surged 31.4% from March to 322,000, which is 32.9% below the year-ago level of 480,000.    

Housing completions were up across the board, rising 8.6% month over month and 14.6% year over year to 1,623,000. 

“On a positive note, albeit only for the short term, the completion of homes is rising due to past months’ higher housing starts,” National Association of REALTORS® Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a press release, adding that the 1.62 million housing unit completions in April was the second-highest monthly figure in 15 years. 

Nevertheless, Yun said, the pace of housing starts remains too low to satisfy current demand. 

“The housing shortage is not going away,” he said. “The laws of supply and demand tell us that home prices are on firm ground and could even reaccelerate in the future unless more is done to boost supply.”