Publication Date:
Mon, 2012-03-19 14:02
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Nearly 3 million residential remodeling construction permits were filed in January, an 11 percent increase from the same time last year.
Residential remodels authorized by building permits in the United States in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2,998,000, according to the latest release of the BuildFax Remodeling Index (BFRI). This is 13 percent above the revised December rate of 2,653,000 and is 11 percent above the January 2011 estimate of 2,705,000.
Seasonally adjusted annual rates of remodeling across the country in January 2012 are estimated as follows: Northeast, 430,000 (down 7 percent from December and up 12 percent from January 2011); South, 1,122,000 (up 17 percent from December and up 6 percent from January 2011); Midwest, 595,000 (up 9 percent from December and up 14 percent from January 2011); West, 852,000 (up 10 percent from December and up 14 percent from January 2011).
"Residential remodeling this winter is as strong as it has been in more than five years. We expect residential remodeling to continue to grow throughout 2012," said Joe Emison, vice president of research and development at BuildFax.
The BFRI is based on construction permits for residential remodeling projects filed with local building departments across the country. The index estimates the number of properties permitted. The national and regional indexes are based upon a subset of representative building departments in the U.S. and population estimates from the U.S. Census. The BFRI is seasonally adjusted using the X12 procedure.
