US housing starts jump 21.7% in May, highest since April 2022

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - US housing starts jumped 21.7% in May, compared to the previous month, and marked the highest since April 2022, according to data released Tuesday.

Housing starts, which measure the change in the number of new residential buildings beginning construction, stood at 1.63 million last month, according to the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The figure came in much higher than expectations of a 0.8% decline, while the figure for April showed a decrease of 2.9%.

Building permits, a key indicator of demand in the market, increased 5.2% to 1.49 million in May.

The April figure was a decline of 1.4%, standing at almost 1.42 million.