Residential Construction Tepid in December but Gained Ground in 2014

December’s numbers for residential construction were mixedrnwhen compared to November, but all were better than the monthly figures the previousrnDecember.  Year-end figures, also releasedrntoday by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development showrnpermitting, housing starts, and completions all performed better in 2014 thanrnin 2013.   </p

Permits for privately owned housing units were issued inrnDecember at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,032,000 units.  This was a -1.9 percent change from the upwardlyrnrevised (from 1,035,000) November rate of 1,052,000 units.  Permits in December were up 1.0 percent fromrnthe December 2013 estimate of 1,022,000.</p

Single family permits were issued at an annual rate ofrn667,000 in December, a 4.5 percent improvement over November’s 638,000 figure.  December’s permits were 8.1 percent higherrnthan a year earlier.   Permits for construction of units in buildingsrnwith five or more units were at a rate of 338,000, down 12.4 percent fromrnNovember and 9.9 percent from a year earlier. </p

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis there were 80,600 permitsrnissued in December compared to 71,300 in November.  Permits for all of 2014 were estimated atrn1,032,900 compared to 990,800 for all of 2013, an increase of 4.2 percent.</p

Privately owned housing starts were at a seasonally adjustedrnannual rate of 1,089,000 in December, 4.4 percent above the revised Novemberrnestimate of 1,043,000 and 5.3 percent above the rate the previous December ofrn1,034,000.  The November rate ofrnconstruction starts was originally estimated at 1,028,000.</p

Single family starts were at a rate of 728,000, up 7.2rnpercent from November’s 679,000 units and 7.9 percent higher than a yearrnearlier.   There were 339,000 units of multi-family unitsrnstarted on an annualized basis compared to 354,000 units in November, arndecrease of 4.2 percent but virtually unchanged from December 2013.</p

On a non-annualized basis starts were estimated at 73,300rnunits down from 78,400 in November.  Thernreport put starts for the entire year at 1,005,800, an 8.8 percent increasernfrom 924,900 starts in 2013. </p

Residential housing units were completed during the month atrnan annual rate of 927,000, up 6.3 percent from November’s revised 872,000 unitsrn(originally estimated at 863,000 units) and 19.6 percent more than the 775,000rncompletions in December 2013.  </p

Single family units were completed at a rate of 667,000rnunits in December, 9.5 percent above the November rate of 609,000 and 17.4rnpercent above completions in December 2013. <bMulti-family completions were estimated at 254,000 compared to a rate ofrn249,000 the previous month.</p

The unadjusted numbers for completions in December andrnNovember were 88,300 and 72,200. rnCompletions over the entire year totaled 883,000, an increase of 15.5rnpercent from the 2013 figure of 764,400. </p

At the end of 2014 there were 810,900 units of housing underrnconstruction.  An estimated 347,200 ofrnthose were single-family houses and 452,300 were multifamily units.  There were also 114,200 permits which hadrnbeen issued but under which construction had not yet begun.</p

In the Northeast region permits were issued at a rate thatrnwas 16.8 percent lower than in November and down 19.5 percent from one yearrnearlier.  Starts however increased 12.5rnpercent from the previous month and were 51.8 percent above year-ago levels.  Completions rose 13.5 percent but laggedrnfigures for the previous December by 35.9 percent.</p

Permits in the Midwest rose 6.7 percent from November andrnwere up 11.9 percent on an annual basis. rnStarts were down 13.3 percent for the month and up 5.2 percent for thernyear. The region had the best showing in the country for residentialrncompletions.  Those figures rose 30.8rnpercent for the month and 40.3 percent year-over-year.</p

The South saw a 9.6 percent month-over-month increase inrnpermits issued and a rise of 13.7 percent compared to the previous December.  Starts rose 8.8 percent from November butrnwere 1.2 percent below the year-ago rate. rnCompletions fell 5.9 percent for the month while rising 11.7 percentrnfrom December to December.</p

Permits dropped 20.5 percent in the West and were 17.9rnpercent lower than a year earlier. Starts and completions improvedrnhowever.  The former were up 5.8 percentrnand 3.5 percent respectively while completions were 14.8 percent higher than inrnNovember and up 52.0 percent from a year earlier.

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