Monthly building permits for new housing units rose to a 12-month high. Meanwhile, completed construction soared in the Northeast.
In places where permits are issued on new privately owned housing units, there were 114,000 units authorized during June of this year.
That was the busiest month for building permits since June 2015, when a downwardly revised 134,800 housing permits were issued.
The data, released jointly on Tuesday by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development,
indicated that a downwardly revised 107,700 permits were issued in May 2016.
During the first-half 2016, permits issued came to 578,400.
With seasonal adjustments, the U.S. rate of building permits worked out to 1.153 million last month, up 2 percent from the prior month’s downwardly revised rate.
“This month’s up tick in production is an indicator that the housing market continues to move forward,” National Association of Home Builders Chairman Ed Brady commented in a written statement. “At the same time, builders are adding inventory at a cautious pace as they face lot shortages and regulatory hurdles.”
Cautious development left the latest rate 14 percent short of the year earlier’s downwardly revised rate
Two-to-four-unit structures saw the biggest month-over-month gain: 11 percent. Single-unit properties had a 738,000 annual rate, 1 percent better than in May.
NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz noted in the trade group’s statement that
job growth, new household formations and low interest rates should help strengthen single-family production this year.
The seasonally adjusted annual rate of total permits issued jumped 9 percent in the Northeast from April 2016 to 105,000. In the South, the rate was up 8 percent to 590,000.
But a 3 percent decline left the annual rate in the Midwest at 172,000, while a 10 percent tumble pulled down the West’s annual rate to 286,000.
With last month’s new permits, there were a seasonally adjusted 140,000 U.S. units authorized but not started as of June 30, 2016. The inventory was reduced from 142,000 a month earlier and 154,000 a year earlier.
The report indicated that construction was started at
a seasonally adjusted annual U.S. rate of 1,189,000 in June 2016.
Construction starts increased from a 1.135 million annual rate in the last report and a 1.213 million rate during the same month last year.
A seasonally adjusted 1.015 U.S. housing units were under construction as of the end of last month.
Construction was completed on
99,500 housing units in June 2016, more than 83,600 the prior month and 85,400 a year prior.
That brought the seasonally adjusted annual rate of new construction to
1.147 million, rising 12 percent from May and 19 percent more than in June 2015.
The seasonally adjusted annual rate of completed construction was 129,000
in the Northeast, an increase from May of 90 percent — the biggest of any region.
A
10 percent month-over-month gain left the annual rate at 194,000 in the Midwest, while the West was up 9 percent to 258,000, and the South rose 5 percent to 566,000.
