The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Thursday morning that new housing starts in December jumped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.226 million. That was an increase of 11.3% from the upwardly revised November rate of 1.102 million and an increase of 5.7% compared with the December 2015 rate of 1.16 million. The consensus estimate from a survey of economists expected a December rate of around 1.09 million.
The revision to the November rate added 12,000 new housing starts from the previously reported total.
The seasonally adjusted rate of new building permits fell in December to 1.210 million, down 0.2% from the upwardly revised November rate of 1.212 million but up 0.7% from the December 2015 rate of 1.201 million. The consensus estimate called for 1.23 million new building permits.
Single-family housing starts fell in December to an annualized rate of 795,000, down 4% from the revised November rate of 828,000. Single-family starts rose 3.9% year over year in December.
Permits for new single-family homes rose 4.7% month over month in December, to an adjusted annual rate of 817,000, from an upwardly revised total of 780,000 in November. The rate rose 10.7% year over year.
Multifamily starts for buildings with five or more units dropped by 17.1% year over year in December and fell by 10.1% compared with November.
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