U.S. Government Reports New Housing Starts up 1.6% in March

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Today the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly announced the following new residential construction statistics for March 2010:

BUILDING PERMITS

Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 685,000. This is 7.5 percent (±1.3%) above the revised February rate of 637,000 and is 34.1 percent (±2.6%) above the March 2009 estimate of 511,000.

Single-family authorizations in March were at a rate of 543,000; this is 5.6 percent (±1.5%) above the revised February figure of 514,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 120,000 in March.

HOUSING STARTS

Privately-owned housing starts in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 626,000. This is 1.6 percent (±15.2%) above the revised February estimate of 616,000 and is 20.2 percent (±15.3%) above the March 2009 rate of 521,000.

Single-family housing starts in March were at a rate of 531,000; this is 0.9 percent (±12.1%) below the revised February figure of 536,000. The March rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 88,000.

HOUSING COMPLETIONS

Privately-owned housing completions in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 656,000. This is 3.1 percent (±16.7%) below the revised February estimate of 677,000 and is 21.2 percent (±8.9%) below the March 2009 rate of 833,000.

Single-family housing completions in March were at a rate of 486,000; this is 5.9 percent (±14.6%) above the revised February rate of 459,000. The March rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 161,000.

While these are the best housing start numbers reported since November of 2008, most of the lift is coming from multi-family starts, not single family starts.

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