The Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development compile new residential construction statistics every month and separate the data by building permits, housing starts and housing completions.
While each of those data sets is important to understanding the housing sector, housing starts is one of the most closely watched reports because it reflects a very direct commitment by a builder to build. Think of it this way: As a general rule, home builders don’t start building a house unless they can sell it shortly before or upon it’s completion. And once a local homebuilder is confident enough to start building, local employment goes up and money is pumped back into the local economy.
Now, multiply that effect hundreds of thousands of times across the country, and you can see the impact that housing has on our economy.
Here’s what was reported on Tuesday, October 20th.
Building Permits: Privately owned housing units authorized by building permits in September were up 5.2% above the August rate, and 8.1% above the September 2019 rate.
Housing Starts: Privately owned housing starts in September were up 1.9% above the August rate and 11.1% above the September 2019 rate.
Housing Completions: Privately owned housing completions in September were up 15.3% above the revised August rate and 25.8% above the September 2019 rate.
Single-family starts showed continued growth in September, as overall housing production increased to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 1.4 million units. This is the number of housing units builders would begin if they kept this pace up for the next 12 months.
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