Housing Starts Fall 3% in November as Sandy Slows Northeast

Permits for privately owned residential construction<bincreased by 3.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in November compared tornOctober. According to the monthly report from the U.S. Census Bureau and thernDepartment of Housing and Urban Development permits were issued at an annualrnrate of 899,000 compared to 868,000 in October and the October rate was revisedrnupward from an original estimate of 866,000. rnThe November rate was an increase of 26.8 percent from 709,000 inrnNovember 2011.</p

Permits for single-family construction were issued at anrnannual rate of 565,000, down 0.2 percent from an upwardly revised Octoberrnfigure of 566,000 (from 562,000). rnPermits for units in buildings with five or more units were authorizedrnat a rate of 307,000.</p

Building Permits
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Privately-owned housing starts were at a seasonally adjustedrnannual rate of 861,000 units, down 3.0 percent from the revised Octoberrnestimate of 888,000 (originally estimated at 894,000) but 21.6 percent higherrnthan November 2011 when construction was started on 708,000 units.</p

Single-family units constituted 565,000 of the starts, downrn4.1 percent from October.  Octoberrnsingle-family starts, originally estimated at 594,000 were revised down torn589,000.  There were 285,000 units forrnwhich construction was begun in multi-unit buildings in November.</p

Housing Starts</p

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Units were completed at a seasonally adjusted annual rate ofrn677,000 compared to 750,000 in October. rnThis is a 9.7 percent decrease but is 16.1 percent above the annual raternof 583,000 in November 2011.  The Octoberrnrate was a substantial revision from 772,000 originally reported.</p

Single-family housing completions in November were at a raternof 520,000; this is 2.4 percent below the revised October rate of 533,000. The Novemberrnrate for units in buildings with five units or more was 150,000.</p

Both housing starts and permits issued showed strong variationrnacross regions.  In the Northeast permitsrnwere issued at an annual rate of 76,000, a 6.2 percent drop from the previousrnmonth and 5.0 percent lower than a year earlier.  Housing starts were at a rate of 46,000 a -5.2rnpercent change from the previous month and down 25.2 percent from Novemberrn2011.</p

In the Midwest permits were issued at a rate of 160,000rnunits, an 8.1 percent increase from October and 49.5 percent higher than a yearrnearlier.  Housing starts were at the raternof 158,000 units, up 3.3 percent from October and 68.1 percent from Novemberrn2011.</p

In the South the permitting rate was 465,000 units, a 2.9rnpercent monthly increase and 29.2 percent higher than a year earlier.  The rate of housing starts was 458,000 units,rnalso a 2.9 percent increase from October and a 33.1 percent year-over-yearrnimprovement.</p

In the West construction permits increased 5.9 percent fromrnOctober to 198,000 and were 22.2 percent higher than a year earlier.  Housing starts, however, decreased 19.2rnpercent from October to 172,000 and were unchanged from November 2011.

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