Winter Arrived Early, Construction Slowed as Well

All three of the U.S. Census Bureau/Department of Housingrnand Urban Development construction indicators dropped in November from theirrnOctober levels and both residential building permits and housing starts werernalso lower than one year earlier.  Thernnumber of housing completions did manage to surpass the November 2013 level.</p

Privately-owned housing units were permitted at a seasonallyrnadjusted annual rate of 1,035,000 in November, a 5.2 percent decline fromrnOctober.  The estimate of October permitsrnwas revised upward in this morning’s report from 1,080,000 to 1,092,000.  The November number was down 0.2 percent fromrn1,037,000 units reported in November 2013.</p

Single family permits were at a rate of 639,000 units, arndecrease of 1.2 percent from the October’s 647,000 units, revised from 640,000rnunits.  Permits for construction of unitsrnin buildings with five or more were at an estimated rate of 367,000, off 11.1rnpercent from the previous month.</p

On an unadjusted basis there were permits issued for 69,800rnunits during the month compared to 96,400 in October.  Of that total 41,200 were for single familyrnconstruction and 26,700 for units in multi-unit structures.</p

Construction was begun on residential properties at arnseasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,028,000 in November.  This was 1.6 percent below the Octoberrnestimate of 1,045,000 (revised from 1,009,000 units) and 7.0 percent lower thanrnthe 1,105,000 units for which starts were reported in November 2013.</p

Single-family housing units were started at a rate ofrn677,000, down 5.4 percent from October’s estimate of 716,000 which was revisedrnfrom 696,000 units.  Construction wasrnbegun on multi-family housing at a rate of 340,000 units, a month-over-monthrnincrease of 7.6 percent.</p

On an unadjusted basis construction was started on 77,500rnresidential units compared to 87,600 units a month earlier.  Single family units numbered 47,700 and multifamilyrn28,800.</p

There was a decrease of 6.4 percent in the annual rate ofrnhousing completions during the month to 863,000 units from a revised (from 881,000rnunits) 922,000 units.  The Novemberrncompletion rate was up 4.5 percent from the November 2013 level of 826,000rnunits.</p

Single family housing wasrncompleted in November at a rate of 596,000 units, down 2.9 percent from 614,000rnin October (revised from 585,000 units) and 0.5 percent higher than a yearrnearlier.  Multifamily units wererncompleted at a rate of 256,000 units, a 15.0 percent decrease from October butrnvirtually the same amount higher than a year earlier.</p

On an unadjusted basis therernwere 71,500 residential units completed during the month compared to 84,500 inrnOctober.  Just over 52,000 units werernsingle family; 18,500 were multifamily. </p

Permits rose in the Northeast by 27.4 percentrnmonth-over-month while falling in every other region.  Permitting was also higher in the Northeast thanrnit was a year earlier by 8.0 percent.  Residential housing starts were at an annualrnrate 8.7 percent higher than in October and 17.7 percent above the level a yearrnearlier.  Completions however plummetedrnin November, down 51.0 percent from the previous month and 37.2 percent from arnyear earlier.</p

In the Midwest permits were down 7.3 percent from Octoberrnand 3.8 percent from one year earlier. rnHousing starts rose 14.4 percent on a monthly basis but were down 15.3rnpercent compared to November 2013.  Completions were down 12.1 percent and 3.7rnpercent from the two earlier periods.</p

The South had a decrease of 10.0 percent in permits issuedrncompared to October and 4.1 percent relative to the same month in 2013.  Housing starts dropped by 19.5 percent andrn20.2 percent respectively.  Completionsrnrose by 10.8 percent from October and 12.2 percent year-over-year.</p

In the West permitting was down 5.6 percent from thernprevious month but the number rose 6.3 percent year-over-year.   Starts were 28.1 percent higher than in Octoberrnand were 24.1 percent higher than one year earlier.  Extrapolating from the numbers provided, the Novemberrnincrease appears to have been entirely in multi-unit construction.  Completions fell 13.6 percent from Octoberrnbut were up 10.4 percent from November 2013</p

At the end of the reporting period there were 108,100rnpermits nationwide for which construction had not been started.  These were close to equally divided betweenrnsingle-family and multi-family permits and more than half of them wererntypically in the South.  Construction wasrnunderway on 817,200 units (not seasonally adjusted) at the end of November;rn364,000 single and 442,200 multifamily units.

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