December Construction Numbers Lag; November Figures Upgraded

All three Census Bureau/Department of Housingrnand Urban Development (HUD) measures of residential construction activity,rnhousing permits, starts, and completions, were down in December as compared tornNovember.  All but one previous Novemberrnestimates however were revised upward.</p

Building permits were issued forrnresidential construction at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 986,000, downrn3.0 percent from the new November estimate of 1,017,000.  November permits were originally reported atrna rate of 1,007,000.  The December estimaternwas an increase of 4.6 percent from permits issued in December 2012 which werernat a rate of 943,000.</p

Single family permits in December werernat a rate of 610,000, 4.8 percent below the revised (from 634,000) Novemberrnrate of 641,000.  Multifamily permittingrnwas down 0.6 percent from 352,000 in November to 350,000 in December. </p

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis therernwere an estimated 74,900 permits issued in December.  Approximately 43,500 of these were for<bsingle-family construction.  An estimated 974,700 housing units werernauthorized by permit in 2013.  This isrn17.5 percent above the estimate for all of 2012.</p

Housing starts decreased by 9.8 percentrnin December to an annual rate of 999,000 from a revised November figure (fromrn1,091,000) of 1,107,000.  Starts were 1.6rnpercent above the 983,000 pace in December 2012.  </p

Single-family housing starts werernestimated at a rate of 667,000, down 7.0 percent from November.  The November rate was originally estimated atrn727,000 and was revised down to 717,000. rnThere were 312,000 units completed in buildings with five or more units,rndown 17.9 percent from 380,000 the previous month.</p

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis therernwere 65,700 units of housing started in December compared to 84,200 inrnNovember.  Single-family starts numberedrnan estimated 42,400. Over the course of 2013 the Census Bureaurnand HUD estimate there were 923,400 housing units started.  This is 18.3 percent higher than the 780,600rnstarts in 2012.</p

Housing completions were estimated at arnrate of 744,000 units, down 10.8 percent from November’s estimate of 834,000rnbut 10.7 percent higher than one year earlier when completions were estimatedrnat a rate of 672,000.   Housing starts for November were revised upwardrnfrom 823,000. </p

Single family completions were at a raternof 550,000, 8.1 percent below November’s 834,000 and 10.7 percent above a yearrnearlier.  Multifamily completions were atrna rate of 183,000.  There were an estimated 762,200 housingrnunits completed in 2013.  This is 17.4rnpercent more than the 649,200 completed the previous year.</p

In the Northeast region permitting wasrnup 11.2 percent for the month and 19.0 percent for the year.  Starts were unchanged from November tornDecember but dropped 21.7 percent from the previous December. Completionsrnincreased by 15.0 percent and 61.4 percent for the monthly and yearly periodsrnrespectively.</p

The Midwest saw permits fall by 18.8rnpercent from November and 11.0 percent from December 2012.  Starts dropped sharply for both periods, downrn33.5 percent and 22.6 percent respectively. rnCompletions fell 19.1 percent from November but were 9.0 percent abovernthose of a year earlier.</p

Permitting in the South was down by 7.4rnpercent from November to December but up 0.4 percent compared to December 2012.  Starts declined by 12.3 percent for the monthrnbut were 6.0 percent higher than a year earlier.  Completions were down 7.5 percent fromrnNovember but increased 8.2 percent from the previous December.</p

The West had an increase in permits ofrn10.5 percent month-over-month and 16.8 percent year-over-year.  Starts were up 15.0 percent November tornDecember and 26.3 percent for the year. rnHousing completions were off by 17.0 percent for the month but were 9.9rnpercent higher than the previous year.</p

At the end of December there were anrnestimated 707,000 units under construction nationwide and 108,700 permitsrnoutstanding for which construction had not been started.  Nearly half of the incomplete constructionrnand over 60 percent of outstanding permits were located the South.

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