US Housing Starts, Building Permits Stall as Mortgage Rates Bite

US new-home construction slipped in April amid ongoing supply-side challenges and the steepest climb in mortgage rates in decades.

Residential starts decreased 0.2% last month to a 1.72 million annualized rate after a downwardly revised 1.73 million pace in the prior month, according to government data released Wednesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 1.76 million pace.

Applications to build, a proxy for future construction, fell 3.2% to an annualized 1.82 million units.

Builders are contending with high material prices amid decades-high inflation, along with continued difficulty securing lots and labor. That, ...