Housing Starts and Building Permits Fall, but Remain Near Recent Highs

The Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and UrbanrnDevelopment’s New Residential Construction summary for January 2015 showedrnmixed and mostly modest results when compared to the December data, howeverrnmost numbers improved year-over-year.</p

Permits to construct new residential buildings were at arnseasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,053,000 units.  This was a dip of 0.7 percent from the numberrnof permits issued in December, an estimated 1,060,000, revised upward from the 1,032,000rnpermits originally reported.  The Januaryrnnumber was 8.1 percent higher than the 974,000 permits authorized one yearrnearlier.</p

Permits for single-family houses were estimated at 654,000,<b3.1 percent fewer than in December. Units in buildings with five or more rosern3.3 percent to 372,000 from 360,000.</p

On a non-adjusted basis there were an estimated 69,600rnpermits issued during the month compared to 83,600 in December.  Single-family permits totaled 43,000 for thernmonth.</p

Housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate ofrn1,065,000, a decrease of 2.0 percent from December.  December starts were revised only slightly fromrn1,089,000 to 1,087,000.  Starts inrnJanuary were 18.7 percent higher than a year earlier. </p

Single-family housing starts were estimated at an annualrnrate of 678,000, down 6.7 percent from the previous month’s rate ofrn727,000.  Multi-family unit constructionrnwas started at a rate of 381,000 units compared to 340,000 in December.</p

On a non-adjusted basis there were 71,800 starts during thernmonth compared to 73,000 in December. The single-family portion was 44,300rnunits.</p

Housing units were completed at a rate of 930,000, a 1.3rnpercent increase from December’s estimate of 918,000 and 9.4 percent from thern850,000 reported a year earlier. rnSingle-family units were completed at a rate of 649,000, down 2.3rnpercent and multifamily units rose 10.5 percent to 274,000</p

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis there were 61,600 unitsrncompleted during the month compared to 87,100 in December.</p

At the end of January there were 839,000 housing units underrnconstruction in the U.S. on a seasonally adjusted basis and 814,900rnunadjusted.  There were 114,600rnoutstanding permits for which construction had not been started.  </p

Permits rose 29.5 percent in the Northeast region and werern23.0 percent higher than a year earlier. Housing starts were down for both thernmonth and the year by 3.5 percent and 4.3 percent respectively.  Completions were up 8.9 percent for the monthrnbut down 35.8 percent compared to January 2014.</p

In the Midwest permits fell by 16.0 percent month-over-monthrnand 18.6 percent year-over-year.  Whilernstarts were down 22.2 percent from December they rose a whopping 125.8 percentrnfrom a year earlier, a period of unusually cold weather in the region.  Units were completed at a rate 22.0 fewer thanrnin December and 2.7 percent below the January 2014 pace.</p

The South had 8.7 percent fewer permits issued in Januaryrnthan in December but 6.0 percent more than in January 2014. Starts rose 6.5rnpercent from the December level and 9.1 percent year-over-year. Completionsrnimproved by 20.8 percent and 20.5 percent for the two periods.</p

Permits in the West rose 16.8 percent for the month and 26.4rnpercent on an annual basis.  Startsrndeclined by 3.4 percent from December but were 21.7 percent higher than inrnJanuary 2014.  Completions fell 17.6rnpercent from December but were 15.0 percent higher than a year earlier.

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