Permits Rise in May; April Figures Better than First Reported

The U.S. Census Bureau and thernDepartment of Housing and Urban Development reported this morning that permitsrnfor the construction of new privately-owned residential construction jumped 7.9rnpercent in May.  This results in arnseasonally adjusted annual rate of 780,000, up from an upwardly revised levelrnof 723,000 permits in April.  The Aprilrnnumber was originally reported at 715,000. rnThe pace of permitting in May is 25 percent higher than the 624,000rnpermits reported in May 2011.</p

Permits for single-family constructionrnwere at a rate of 494,000, up 4.0 percent from the 475,000 reported inrnApril.  Multi-family permits (units inrnbuildings of five or more units) were at the rate of 266,000, compared to a revisedrn226,000 rate (originally reported at 217,000) in April.</p

Building Permits
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Housing starts fell by 4.8 percent to arnseasonally adjusted annual rate of 708,000; a 28.5 percent increase from onernyear earlier.  In April there werern744,000 starts, a substantial upward revision from the 717,000 pace originallyrnreported.</p

Single family starts were at an adjustedrnrate of 516,000, up 3.2 percent from the revised April figure of 500,000, 8,000rnhigher than originally reported.  The Mayrnfigure was 26.2 percent higher than that reported in May, 2011.  Multifamily starts were at a rate of 179,000,rndown 24.2 percent month-over-month but 31.6 percent higher than one yearrnearlier.</p

Housing Starts</p

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Housing completions were at a rate ofrn598,000, a 10.3 percent drop from April but 10.1 percent higher than in Mayrn2011.  Single-family completions were atrnthe rate of 458,000, down 6.3 percent from April’s 489,000.  Units in multi-family buildings wererncompleted at an annual rate of 130,000.</p

The pace of permitting rose in three ofrnfour regions, falling by 8.0 percent in the Northeast but rising 6.1 percent inrnthe Midwest, 11.1 percent in the South, and 10.5 percent in the West.  Housing starts however rose only in the West,rnby 14.4 percent.  They fell in thernNortheast by 20.3 percent, in the Midwest by 13.3 percent, and in the South byrn6.1 percent.</p

At the end of the reporting period therernwere 88,900 units with permits for which construction had not started.  Nearly half of these (39,100) were for constructionrnof units in multi-family buildings and 24,900 of those were located in thernSouth. </p<prnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrn

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