The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Friday morning that new housing starts in January rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.23 million, an increase of 18.6% from the downwardly revised December rate of 1.037 million and a decrease of 7.8% compared with the January 2018 rate of 1.334 million.
The revision to the December rate dropped 41,000 new housing starts from the previously reported total. The consensus estimate from a survey of economists expected a January rate of around 1.17 million.
On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, housing starts rose by 3.6% year over year in 2018. Single-family starts were up 2.8% and buildings with two to four units rose by 23.5%.
Single-family housing starts jumped 25.1% month over month in January to 926,000 units on a seasonally adjusted basis, with all U.S. regions posting solid gains. New construction rose by 70,000 units in the South and rose by 66,000 units in the West.
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The seasonally adjusted rate of new building permits rose to 1.345 million, up 1.4% from the revised December rate of 1.326 million but 1.5% lower than the January 2018 rate.
Permits for new single-family homes dipped by 2.1% month over month in January from a revised annual rate of 829,000 in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 812,000. The rate decreased by 6.7% year over year.
Multifamily starts for buildings with five or more units decreased by 33.6% year over year in January to 289,000 units. This number is more volatile than the single-family number and has moved mostly sideways on an annual basis since 2013.
In 2018, 1.242 million housing units were started, up 3.2% compared with 2017. An estimated 1.311 million permits were issued in 2017, up about 3.7% year over year. These totals are subject to future revisions.
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