Permits for construction of multi-family housing plummeted in
April, offsetting a small increase in single family permits and
dropping the total down 7 percent from revised April figures. Permits
for all privately owned residential construction were issued at a
seasonally adjusted annual rate of 715,000, down from the March rate of
769,000. The March rate was revised substantially upward from the
original estimate of 747,000. The April permitting rate is 23.7 percent
higher than that of April 2011 when the annual rate was estimated at
578,000.
Permits for single family authorizations were at a rate of 475,000, up 1.9 percent
from the March rate which was upwardly revised from 462,000 to
466,000. The April figure is 18.5 percent higher than the rate of
401,000 one year earlier. Permits for construction in buildings with
five or more units dropped sharply from the April rate of 281,000
(revised from the original estimate of 262,000) to 217,000, a drop of
22.8 percent. Multi-family permits were issued at a rate 40.0 percent
higher than a year earlier.
Click Here to View the Housing Permits Chart
Privately owned housing starts rose modestly to 717,000, a 2.6
percent increase from March and a 29.9 percent increase from the April
2011 rate of 552,000. The March figure was revised from an original
estimate of 654,000 to 699,000.
Click Here to View the Housing Starts Chart
This month the Construction Report produced by the U.S. Census Bureau
and the Department of Housing and Urban Development added a
non-seasonally adjusted set of data giving the actual numbers for
construction activity in the current month. There were 62,000 permits
issued for residential construction during the month, 44,000 for single
family houses, and 16,000 for units in building with five or more
units. There were also a small number of permits for units in buildings
of two to four units.
Single-family home starts were at a seasonally adjusted rate of
492,000, an increase of 2.3 percent from the March rate of 481,000 and
construction starts for multi-family housing were at a rate of 217,000
up from the March rate of 208,000. Again the April report showed
substantial revisions of the March figures. Single-family starts were
revised from the original estimate of 462,000 and multi-family starts
from an estimate of 178,000.
There were 64,200 units for which construction was started during the
month; 45,800 single family dwellings and 17,800 units in multiple unit
buildings.
The housing completion rate in April was 651,000, a 10.0
percent increase from March and a 20.1 jump from one year earlier when
the rates were 592,000 and 542,000 respectively. Single-family
completions were up 11.4 percent to 489,000.
There were 457,000 units under construction at the end of April.
On a regional basis, there were 6,900 permits issued in the
Northeast, up from 5,800 in March and 6,200 starts compared to 6,900 the
previous month. There were 10,600 permits and 11,500 starts in the
Midwest compared to 10,300 and 8,600 in March. In the South 30,800
permits were issued, down from 34,300 and 34,100 units were started, up
from 29,400. In the West there were 13,600 permits issued and
construction was started on 12,400 compared to 17,000 permits and 12,500
units started in March.
…(read more)
Connect With Us