• Building permits issued in April decreased to 1,440,000 (SAAR). That’s 3% below the revised March rate and 2% lower than a year ago.
• Housing starts increased to 1,360,000 (SAAR) in April, up 5.7% from the revised March estimate but 0.6% lower than a year ago, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. 
• Single-family housing starts decreased to 1,031,000 (SAAR) in April, down 0.4% from March and 17.7% above last April. Despite the recent decrease, single-family construction drove most of the increase in housing starts in the past year.

Zillow’s home value forecast now anticipates 0.6% growth over 2024, down from last month’s projection for 1.9% growth over 2024 and much slower than the pre-pandemic average annual appreciation rate of around 5%. Over the next 12 months, Zillow forecasts home values to decline by 0.9%. 

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• The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 0.3% in April and 3.4% year-over-year vs. respective expectations of 0.4% and 3.4%. While still high, the monthly and year-over-year rates eased slightly from 0.4% and 3.5%, respectively, in March.
• Shelter and gasoline accounted for 70% of the increase in the headline index.
• Core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, met expectations with increases of 0.3% for the month and 3.6% over the past year.