New Residential Construction: Housing Starts, Building Permits Top Forecast

The U.S. Census Bureau released new residential construction statistics for January and both housing starts and building permits beat the median forecast.

Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,396,000. This is 7.4% (±1.2%) above the revised December rate of 1,300,000 and is 7.4% (±1.9%) above the January 2017 rate of 1,300,000. Single-family authorizations in January were at a rate of 866,000; this is 1.7% (±1.3%) below the revised December figure of 881,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 479,000 in January.

Privately-owned housing starts in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,326,000. This is 9.7% (±16.8%) above the revised December estimate of 1,209,000 and is 7.3% (±15.0%) above the January 2017 rate of 1,236,000. Single-family housing starts in January were at a rate of 877,000; this is 3.7% (±9.7%) above the revised December figure of 846,000. The January rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 431,000.

Privately-owned housing completions in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,166,000. This is 1.9% (±7.8%) below the revised December estimate of 1,188,000, but is 7.7% (±11.9%) above the January 2017 rate of 1,083,000. Single-family housing completions in January were at a rate of 850,000; this is 2.2% (±8.3%)* above the revised December rate of 832,000. The January rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 305,000.