New Construction Activity Down Overall; Single Family Permits Improved

Building permits were issued in May at arnrate that was 6.4 percent lower than that of April and housing starts also fell.  Housing completions were up, Driven by a hugernincrease in the Northeast.  </p

Today’s New Residential Constructionrnreport, issued by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and UrbanrnDevelopment, states that permits in May were issued at a seasonally adjustedrnrate of 991,000 compared to 1,059,000 permits in April.  The April number was originally reported atrn1,080,000.  The May permits fell 1.9rnpercent below those in May 2013 which were estimated at a rate of 1,010,000, but the decline was exclusively due to the multifamily sector.</p

Single family permits were issued at arnrate of 619,000, up 3.7 percent from the revised (from 602,000) rate ofrn597,000 in April.  Permits forrnconstruction of buildings with two or more units were at a rate of 372,000rncompared to 462,000 in April, a substantial 19.5 percent decline.  Multifamily permits were 386,000 one year earlier.</p

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis therernwere 91,000 permits issued during the month, 59,500 of which were forrnsingle-family units.  In April therncorresponding numbers were 94,700 and 57,600. </p

Housing starts in May were at arnseasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,001,000, a drop of 6.3 percent fromrn1,071,000 in April and 9.4 percent higher than a year earlier when starts werernat a rate of 915,000.  The report revisedrnthe April housing start number down from 1,072,000.</p

Single-family units were started at arnrate of 625,000, a decrease of 5.9 percent from April’s 664,000 rate and 24.8rnpercent higher than in May 2013.   Multi-family starts were at a rate of 376,000rncompared to 407,000. </p

The non-seasonally adjusted numbersrnfor May were 94,200 units started including 59,700 single-family.  The April numbers were 95,700 and 62,000.</p

Housing completions were estimated atrna rate of 897,000 compared to 840,000 in April, a 6.8 percent increase.  May’s completions were up 24.8 percent from arnyear earlier.  April completions were arnrevision from 847,000 originally reported.</p

Single family completions were at arnrate of 618,000, a 2.1 percent improvement on April’s 605,000.  Completions in multiple unit buildings werernat a rate of 269,000 compared to 231,000 in April.</p

There were 73,200 units completedrnduring the month compared to 64,300 in April. rnSingle family completions numbered 51,800, up from 46,200 the previousrnmonth.</p

At the end of May there were 749,000rnunits under construction, 10,000 more than in April.  Single family units in process numberedrn343,000 and units in buildings with five or more units totaled 396,000.</p

Also at the end of May there werern110,300 permits outstanding for which construction had not been startedrncompared to 114,000 in April.  Thernpermits were almost equally divided between those for single-family and for multi-unitrnconstruction.  </p

Permits were issued in the Northeastrnat a rate 3.5 percent above April and 11.4 percent higher than a year earlier.  Housing starts plummeted 25.2 percent from arnmonth earlier and were down 5.0 percent from May 2013.  Completions soared by 75.7 percent and werernup 128.1 percent from the previous May.</p

The Midwest saw permits rise 3.8rnpercent month-over-month and 9.9 percent year-over-year.  Housing starts were off 16.5 percent fromrnApril but were 27.4 percent above a year earlier.  Completions rose 16.5 and 27.6 percentrncompared to the two earlier periods.</p

In the South permitting fell 7.3rnpercent from April and 6.9 percent from a year earlier.  Starts were up by 7.3 percent for the monthrnand 10.4 percent on an annual basis. rnCompletions fell by 7.5 percent compared to April but were 5.1 percentrnhigher than a year earlier.</p

Permitting in the West was off thernApril pace by 15.2 percent and was 4.3 percent below levels the previous May.  Starts also fell, down 16.3 percent fromrnApril but increased 2.0 percent year-over-year. rnCompletions rose 6.6 percent from the previous month and were up 33.8rnpercent from May of last year.

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