Mixed Housing Starts Data Pulled Higher by Surge in Multi-Family

Residential construction starts rose inrnMay while permitting for new construction was down slightly the U.S. CensusrnBureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development said today.  Privately-owned housing starts were at arnseasonally adjusted annual rate of 914,000, a 6.8 percent increase from April’srnrevised estimate of 856,000.  Starts werern28.6 percent higher than a year ago when the rate was 711,000 units.  The revision to the April housing startsrnnumber raised the estimate from 853,000 units.</p

Single-family housing starts were at arnrate of 599,000, up 0.3 percent from the April estimate of 597,000, revisedrndown from 610,000.  Construction began onrn306,000 units located in buildings with five or more units, a 24.9 percentrnincrease from the previous month.</p

Residential construction permits werernissued at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 974,000 units, a 3.1 percentrndrop from the April rate of 1,005,000 (revised from 1.017, 000) units.  Permits were issued in May at a rate 20.8rnpercent higher than one year earlier when the rate was 806,000 units.</p

Permits for single family construction werernissued at a rate of 622,000, up 1.3 percent from 614,000 in April.  Authorizations for units in buildings withrnfive or more were at a rate of 325,000 compared to 366,000 in April.</p

Privately owned housing completions inrnMay were at a rate of 690,000, down 0.9 percent from the upwardly revised Aprilrnnumber of 696,000 but 12.6 percent higher than one year earlier.  Single family completions were at a rate ofrn546,000, a 4.2 percent increase, and completions in multi-unit builders were atrna rate of 135,000.</p

At the end of the reporting period therernwere an estimated 620,000 residential units under construction; 305,000 singlernfamily and 305,000 units in multifamily buildings.  All of these numbers represented 2 to 3rnpercent increases over April figures. rnThere were 100,000 permits outstanding at the end of the month for whichrnconstruction had not yet started.  44,500rnof those units were for multifamily construction.</p

On a regional basis permits in the Northeastrnincreased by 4.0 percent from April and were up 30.4 percent from a yearrnearlier.  Housing starts were down 9.0rnpercent from both April 2013 and May 2012.</p

In the Midwest permits were issued at arnrate 6.1 percent below the previous month, but up 28.1 percent from May 2012.  Housing starts decreased 13.7 percent fromrnApril but were up 23.4 percent from the prior year.  </p

The South saw a 3.3 percent decrease inrnpermits in May compared to April but a 15.5 percent improvement over the priorrnyear.  Housing starts increased 17.8rnpercent and 33.5 percent respectively for the two earlier periods.</p

Permitting was down 3.5 percent in thernWest on a month-over-month basis but up 15.5 percent year-over-year.  Starts were up 5.7 percent and 39.0 percent.

All Content Copyright © 2003 – 2009 Brown House Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.nReproduction in any form without permission of MortgageNewsDaily.com is prohibited.