Western States Drive Surge in Building Permits

October was a mixed month for newrnresidential construction data.  Morernpermits were issued than in September but housing starts and completions werernboth down.  September numbers for permitsrnand housing starts were upgraded slightly from original estimates while the completionsrnnumber was revised down. </p

Permits for construction of privatelyrnowned housing units were issued at a seasonally adjusted annual rate ofrn1.080,000.  This was an increase of 4.8rnpercent from the revised (from 1,018,000) September estimate of 1,031,000 permitsrnand 1.2 percent higher than the October 2013 rate of 1,067,000. </p

Single family construction permits werernissued at a rate of 640,000, up 1.4 percent from the September estimate ofrn631,000 (originally 624,000) and 2.4 percent higher than in October 2014.  Permits for units in building with five orrnmore rose 8 percent from a September rate of 376,000 to 406,000.</p

Seasonally adjusted construction startsrnwere at an annual rate of 1,009,000 units. rnThis was a decrease of 2.8 percent from the September rate of 1,038,000rnbut 7.8 percent higher than the October 2013 annual rate of 936,000.  September’s number was revised up slightlyrnfrom 1,017,000.  </p

Single family housing starts were at arnrate of 696,000 compared to 668,000 in September, a gain of 4.2 percent andrn15.4 percent higher than in October 2013. rnConstruction was begun on multifamily units at a rate of 300,000, a 15.5rnpercent decrease from a rate of 355,000 starts in September.</p

Housing completions were at a seasonallyrnadjusted annual rate of 881,000, an 8.8 percent drop from September’s revisedrnestimate of 966,000 but 8.1 percent higher than a year earlier.  September was revised from an originalrnestimate of 999,000.</p

Single-family units were completed at anrnannual rate of 585,000 units, off the September pace by 7.4 percent and downrn3.1 percent from a year earlier. rnMulti-unit construction also decreased from the previous month by 11.6rnpercent to 289,000 units.</p

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis therernwere 95,000 construction permits issued in October compared to 90,700 inrnSeptember.  Housing starts fell fromrn95,500 to 84,400 and completions were down 10,200 units to 80,100.</p

</p

Permits in the Northeast region were downrn21.5 percent on an annual basis from September and 8.7 percent from a year earlier.  Housing starts were decreased 16.4 percentrnand 22.4 percent respectively compared to the two periods.  Construction was completed on 27.1 percentrnfewer units than the previous month but the figure was 44.8 percent higher thanrna year earlier.</p

In the Midwest permits fell 11.4 percentrnfrom the previous month and were 4.9 percent lower than in October 2013.  Housing starts were 18.5 percent below whatrnthey were in September and 15.7 percent lower than a year earlier.  Completions were down 14.3 percent fromrnSeptember but were up 5.9 percent on an annual basis.</p

The South saw an increase in permits of 8.8rnpercent compared to September but permitting was 2.3 percent lower year-over-year.  Construction starts rose 10.1 percent fromrnSeptember to October and the October rate was 30.9 percent above that thernprevious October.   Constructionrncompletions were off 15.4 percent from the September pace and down 6.4 percentrnfrom a year earlier.</p

Permits were issued in the West at a ratern21.6 percent higher than in September and 17.6 percent above the pace a yearrnearlier.  Construction starts were downrn10.9 percent month-over-month and 0.5 percent year-over-year.  Completions rose by 26.8 percent and 31.8rnpercent from the two earlier periods.</p

At the end of October there were anrnestimated 116,600 permits for residential construction that had been issued butrnremained unused, fairly equally divided between single family and multi-unitrnpermits.   There were an estimated 802,000rnunits under construction, 360,000 single family units and 431,000 units inrnmulti-unit buildings.

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