A plunge in building permits in the Northeast dragged down the U.S. rate last month. But the region, along with the South, pushed up the rate of completed construction across the country.
Building permits were issued on new privately owned housing units — including single-family and multifamily properties — at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.202 million during January.
The rate of housing units authorized was off slightly from 1.204 million during the prior month.
The December 2015 rate was revised down from the 1.232 rate that was originally reported.
But housing units authorized in permit-issuing areas were up from a rate of 1.059 million in the first month of last year.
The January 2015 rate was revised up from 1.053 million originally reported.
The construction data was jointly reported Thursday by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
While the rate on two- to four-unit properties surged 14 percent, and the multifamily rate was up 1 percent — the single-family
rate was down 2 percent.
Without any seasonal adjustments, there were 74,700 U.S. housing permits issued.
The overall rate
in the Northeast plummeted 55 percent from December to a seasonally adjusted 90,000 permits — the only region to decline. The South was flat at 577,000, the West climbed a quarter to 330,000 and the Midwest was up 27 percent to a rate of 205,000.
Last month’s activity left a seasonally adjusted 153,000 U.S.
housing units authorized but not started.
The report indicated that U.S. housing units were started at a
seasonally adjusted rate of 1.099 million in January 2016, down 4 percent from the downwardly revised rate for a month earlier but 2 percent better than the upwardly revised figure a year earlier.
Without any adjustments for seasonality, there were 73,600 units started.
The first month of this year finished with a seasonally adjusted
978,000 housing units under construction.
As of the latest month, housing units were completed at a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.057 million, up 2 percent from the upwardly revised rate for December and 8 percent better than January 2015’s upwardly revised rate.
The one-unit rate of completed construction was
off 1 percent from December to 693,000, while the multifamily rate climbed 9 percent to 351,000 in January.
Excluding seasonal adjustments, there were 71,800 housing units completed in January 2016.
An 8.6 percent month-over-month gain in the South left the seasonally adjusted rate of completed construction at 543,000. In the Northeast, the rate was up 8.5 percent from December to a rate of 102,000.
But in the West, construction was completed at a rate of 274,000, down 3 percent from December, while the rate dropped 14 percent in the Midwest to 138,000 in January.
