Inman

Housing starts up 10% in past year

Privately owned housing starts in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2,004,000. This is unchanged from the May estimate of 2,004,000 and is 9.7 percent above the June 2004 rate of 1,827,000, the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported today.

Single-family housing starts in June 2005 were at a rate of 1,667,000; this is about 2.5 percent below the May figure of 1,709,000 but is up about 9.2 percent from June 2004. The June rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 302,000.

Privately owned housing units authorized by building permits in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2,111,000. This is about 2.4 percent above the revised May rate of 2,062,000 and is about 4.8 percent above the June 2004 estimate of 2,014,000.

Single-family authorizations in June were at a rate of 1,649,000; this is about 1.3 percent above the May figure of 1,628,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 374,000 in June.

Privately owned housing completions in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,953,000. This is about 6.6 percent below the revised May estimate of 2,092,000 and 5.2 percent above the June 2004 rate of 1,857,000.

Single-family housing completions in June 2005 were at a rate of 1,647,000; this is about 5.1 percent below the May figure of 1,735,000. The June rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 276,000.

Regionally, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of new privately owned housing units authorized in permit-issuing places increased about 8.5 percent in the South from June 2004 to June 2005, increased 5.3 percent in the Midwest, 0.5 percent in the Northeast, and dropped about 0.4 percent in the West.

The rate of new privately owned housing units authorized but not started at the end of the period increased about 25.1 percent in the Midwest from June 2004 to June 2005, 21.5 percent in the South, 14.7 percent in the West and 9 percent in the Northeast.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of new privately owned housing units started increased about 14.8 percent in the South from June 2004 to June 2005, 12.1 percent in the Northeast, 6.7 percent in the Midwest and 1.5 percent in the West, according to Census Bureau statistics.

The adjusted rate of new privately owned housing units under construction at end of period jumped about 19.4 percent in the Northeast from June 2004 to June 2005, 11 percent in the West, 10.6 percent in the South and dropped about 6.4 percent in the Midwest.

And the adjusted rate of new privately owned housing units completed increased about 9.5 percent in the South from June 2004 to June 2005, 9.1 percent in the Northeast, 7.6 percent in the Midwest and fell about 5.3 percent in the West.

The Census Bureau notes that month-to-month changes in seasonally adjusted statistics often show movements which may be irregular, and it may take four months to establish an underlying trend for building permit authorizations, six months for total starts, and six months for total completions. The statistics are estimated from sample surveys and are subject to sampling variability as well as non-sampling error including bias and variance from response, non-reporting, and under-coverage.

On average, the preliminary seasonally adjusted estimates of total building permits, housing starts and housing completions are revised about 1 percent. Explanations of confidence intervals and sampling variability can be found at http://www.census.gov/newresconst.

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