housing permits Archives - Shopfloor

The Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported that housing starts pulled back in February after notching the fastest pace since August 2007 in January. New residential construction declined 7.0 percent from an annualized 1,329,000 units in January to 1,236,000 units in February. Despite the deceleration in activity, there were some positives to note in the latest report. First, for the fifth straight month, housing starts exceeded 1.2 million units at the annual rate, which suggests that we might finally have breached and sustained that threshold of activity, which is promising. Second, single-family housing starts rose from 877,000 units in January to 902,000 units in February. It was only the second time since September 2007 that single-family construction activity has risen above 900,000 units, following the rate of 946,000 units in November. Read More

The Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said that new housing starts jumped to a one-year high in October, bouncing back from hurricane-related softness in the prior release. New residential construction rose 13.7 percent from 1,135,000 units at the annual rate in September to 1,290,000 units in October, its fastest pace in 12 months. That is encouraging news, and yet, it is worth noting that the bulk of that increase stemmed from better multifamily activity, which can often be highly volatile from month to month. Multifamily housing starts soared from 302,000 to 413,000 in this release, the best reading since January. New single-family construction was also higher, up from 833,000 to 877,000, an 8-month high. Read More

The Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said that new housing starts fell for the sixth time in the past seven months, down 4.7 percent in September and continuing a disappointing trend in the overall data. New residential construction declined from 1,183,000 units at the annual rate in August to 1,127,000 in September. A fair share of the decline stemmed from the impacts of recent hurricanes, but there was decreases in activity in the Midwest and the Northeast, suggesting some broader softness in the market, especially for multifamily construction. Indeed, housing starts have been weaker than desired year-to-date, drifting lower since peaking at 1,288,000 units in February. With that said, starts have risen 6.1 percent over the past 12 months, up from 1,062,000 units in September 2016.   Read More

The Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said that new housing starts declined 0.8 percent in August. New residential construction edged down from 1,190,000 units at the annual rate in July to 1,180,000 in August. It is possible that there were some negative impacts from Hurricane Harvey in these data, much as seen in the home builder confidence numbers released yesterday. Outside of weather effects, housing starts have been softer than desired year-to-date, drifting lower since peaking at 1,288,000 units in February. With that said, starts have risen 1.4 percent over the past 12 months, up 1.4 percent since August 2016. Read More

The Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said that new housing starts weakened again in May, dropping for the third straight month. New residential construction fell from an annualized 1,156,000 in April to 1,092,000 in May, its lowest level since September. Since reaching 1,288,000 units in February, housing starts have pulled back considerably. This report was disappointing, especially since it was expected to rise to exceed 1.2 million again. Perhaps we will see a rebound in the summer months. For their part, the home builder optimism remains strong, with respondents to that survey predicting healthy gains in activity over the next six months. I am also predicting a bounce back in my forecast, which is for 1.25 million starts by year’s end. Read More

The Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said that new housing starts declined 6.8 percent in March. New residential construction activity fell from an annualized 1,303,000 in February to 1,215,000 in March. More importantly, it has exceeded 1.2 million in five of the past six months – a psychological threshold that we appear to have finally sustained. That suggests that the housing market continues to show some strength, even with some notable easing in the latest data. Along those lines, both single-family (down from 875,000 to 821,000) and multifamily (down from 428,000 to 394,000) starts were lower in March, with single-family activity decelerating from a pace not seen since October 2007. Read More