Housing Starts Activity Records Rise During December

The seasonally adjusted annualized rate of building permits issued nationwide for new housing construction soared by 8.2% from November to December 2002. And this past December's permit pace -- 1.880 million units on an annual basis -- was 10.5% stronger than the level recorded during the final month of 2001. Permits for single-family homes moved ahead 2.5% during December 2002, but the number of units permitted for future construction in multifamily buildings increased by 29.1% from the November level.

The residential building permit pace rose sharply from November to December in the Northeast, Midwest and South. But after rising for four consecutive months, the seasonally adjusted annualized pace of permitted new home construction in the West eased by 7.4% over the final month of 2002.

For the year as a whole, total residential permit volume nationwide rose 5.6% above the 2001 level. Single-family permit volume was 6.8% greater during 2002 than it was a year earlier, while the total number of units newly permitted in multifamily buildings increased by 1.5% from 2001 to 2002.

The annualized pace of housing starts activity also ended 2002 on a high note. From November to December, total housing starts rose by 5.0%, and at annualized volume of 1.835 million units, this past December's housing starts pace was 15.9% stronger than in the final month of 2001.

Preliminary Commerce Department estimates showed a total of 1.705 million housing starts for 2002, an increase of 6.4% from the 2001 level. The multifamily sector recorded 4.8% more unit starts last year than during 2001, while starts of single-family homes increased by 6.8%.

The starts pace rose in all four broad regions of the country from November to December 2002, with the sharpest gains being recorded in the Northeast and the West. And total starts were higher in all regions of the United States over the course of 2002 than during full-year 2001. Interestingly, the regional increases were nearly uniform, ranging from a low of 5.7% in the Midwest to 6.8% in the South.

Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages carried an average interest rate of 6.05% this past December, down from the 7.07% average recorded during the final month of 2001. Adjustable-rate mortgages tied to the yield on one-year Treasury bills averaged an interest rate of 4.12% during December 2002, well below the 5.23% average recorded during December 2001.

The pace of single-family home sales rose 4.9% from November to December. For the entire year, overall (new and existing, combined) sales came in 5.4% ahead of the total for 2001.

The pace of new single-family home sales (at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate) increased by 3.5% from November to December of last year. And the December 2002 annualized sales pace by itself was more than 10% stronger than during December 2001. The Commerce Department estimates that total sales of new homes throughout the nation increased by 7.5% from 2001 to 2002.

The average price of a new home sold this past December ($238,500) was 4.3% higher than in December 2001. And the median price ($186,400) of new homes sold during December2002 was 3.4% above the level for the final month of 2001. For 2002 as a whole, both median and average prices moved up by about 6% compared with the averages for the previous year.

Seasonally adjusted, existing single-family homes sold at an annualized rate of 5.86 million units during December 2002, according to data compiled by the National Association of Realtors. This was a pace 5.2% faster than during the month before. And compared with December 2001, existing home sales this past December were ahead by 12.7%. Home resales reached a record high for the second year in a row during 2002.

The median price of an existing home sold during December 2002 was $164,000, while the average price of a resale was $204,600. These values represented gains of 7.1% and 6.5%, respectively, over the prices recorded during December 2001.