Housing Starts Fall Enough to Break 3yr Trend of Improvement

All three residential construction indicators fellrnin June according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing andrnUrban Development.  Housing permits andrnhousing starts were down for the second month in a row and completions, whichrnincreased in May, also fell.</p

Permits for residential construction were issued asrna seasonally adjusted annual rate of 963,000 units, a decrease of 4.2 percentrnfrom the May rate of 1,005,000.  The Mayrnrate was revised upward from the 991,000 pace originally reported.  June permitting was 2.7 percent higher than thernJune 2013 rate of 938,000.</p

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Permits for single family units were issued at arnrate of 631,000, 2.6 percent higher than in May and up 0.6 percent from thern627,000 rate a year earlier.   The May numberrnwas revised to 615,000 from 619,000.  Permitsrnfor units in buildings with 5 or more were issued at an annual rate of 301,000rncompared to 363,000 in May.</p

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis there were 91,400rnpermits issued in June compared to 92,200 in May and 85,700 a yearrnearlier.  There were 60,800 single familyrnpermits issued during the month.</p

Residential construction starts in June were at a seasonallyrnadjusted annual rate of 893,000 units. rnThis was a 9.3 percent reduction from the May rate of 985,000 but 7.5rnpercent higher than the 831,000 estimate for starts in June 2013.  The May rate was adjusted down from thernoriginal estimate of 1,001,000 units. </p

Single family starts were at a rate of 575,000rnunits, down 9.0 percent month-over-month and 4.3 percent year-over-year.  The original estimate of 624,000 starts inrnMay was revised upward to 632,000. rnMultifamily unit starts were estimated at 305,000 compared to 344,000rnthe previous month.</p

Non-seasonally adjusted starts in June totaled 85,200rnof which 58,500 were single family units. rnThere were 93,200 total starts and 60,900 single family starts in May.  </p

Completions were at a seasonally adjusted annualrnrate of 789,000 compared to 897,000 in May, a 12.0 percent decline.  The June rate was 3.4 percent higher than thernrate of completions a year earlier, 763,000. rnSingle family units were completed at a rate of 586,000 units compared torn627,000 in May, a decline of 6.5 percent, and 541,000 the previous June, an 8.3rnpercent increase.  Multifamilyrncompletions were at a rate of 198,000 units, down 23 percent from the previousrnmonth.</p

On an unadjusted basis there were units 69,200 unitsrncompleted during the month, 50,700 of which were single family units.  The previous month there were 73,200 unitsrncompleted, 52,500 single family.</p

Permits in the Northeast were down 15.5 percent fromrnMay and 6.7 percent from June 2013. Housing starts rose 14.1 percent from thernprevious month and were up 22.1 percent on an annual basis.  Completions were down 37.6 percent after arnbetter than 75 percent increase in May. rnThe June rate of completions was 2.8 percent higher than a year earlier.</p

In the Midwest the rate of permitting was 6.6rnpercent higher than the previous month and up 21.9 percent year-over-year. Startsrnincreased by 28.1 and 79.5 percent respectively.  Completions were virtually unchanged from Mayrnbut were up 31.3 percent from a year earlier.</p

The annual rate of permitting in the South was downrn6.3 percent and 1.3 percent from the two earlier periods and starts fell byrn29.6 percent and 10.5 percent. rnCompletions declined 6.5 percent but were unchanged from the rate inrnJune 2013.</p

In the West there was a slight decrease inrnpermitting of 1.8 percent compared to May and an increase of 2.8 percent fromrnJune 2013. Starts were up 2.6 percent from May but were 4.9 percent lower thanrna year earlier.  Completions were downrn16.8 percent and 6.3 percent for the month and year respectively.</p

At the end of the reporting period there were anrnestimated 758,000 residential units under construction, 340,000 of which werernfor single family dwellings. There were also 116,800 outstanding permits forrnwhich construction had not yet begun, 59,900 of which were for single-familyrnunits.

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