Today’s report on US housing starts contains mixed news. New construction fell by -4.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 657,000 units in December. For the full year, new housing starts rose by 3.4%, from a 2010 annual rate of 586,900 units to 606,900 units.
Single-family starts rose in December to an annual rate of 470,000, up 4.4% over November’s annual rate of 450,000. Construction of multi-family (5 units or more) housing actually fell in December, from 227,000 in November to 164,000, a drop of nearly -28%.
Most of the gains in housing construction in 2011 have been in multi-family dwellings, and the shift in December is responsible for the overall drop in new construction.
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