U. S. Housing Permits Climb, Starts Fall

The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today that privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 653,000. This is 10.9% above November's 589,000 and 15.8% above December, 2008 of 564,000.

Starts and completions, however, took a dip for the month:

- Privately-owned housing starts in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 557,000, 4% below
the revised November estimate of 580,000, but 0.2 % above the December 2008 rate.
- Privately-owned housing completions in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 768,000. This is 11.2%  below the revised November estimate of 865,000 and is 25.3% below the December 2008 rate of 1,028,000.
- Single-family housing completions in December were at a rate of 503,000; this is 11.1% below the revised November rate of 566,000.
- The December rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 245,000.

In 2009, an estimated 571,600 housing units were authorized by building permits--36.9% below 2008. An estimated 553,800 housing units were started--38.8% below the 2008 figure. An estimated 796,000 housing units were completed--28.9% below 2008.