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Economy in Brief
Philadelphia Fed Factory Conditions Improve; Prices Jump
The Philadelphia Fed reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index rose to 23.2 during April...
U.S. Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance Are Little Changed
Initial unemployment insurance claims slipped to 232,000 (-6.1% y/y) during the week ended April 14...
U.K. Retail Sales Fall
U.K. GDP is expected to cool its jets when the first quarter GDP number is released...
U.S. Mortgage Loan Applications Rebound; Interest Rates Steady
The MBA total Mortgage Applications Volume Index increased 4.9% last week (1.0% y/y), ...
Japan’s Trade Surplus Returns Even As Trade Flows Slow
While the IMF has just lifted its outlook for growth in 2018, Japan is logging weaker and weaker export and import growth as the year progresses...
by Tom Moeller January 19, 2011
Severe snow storms just after Christmas dealt another setback to new housing
activity last month Total housing starts fell 4.3% in December to 529,000
(AR) units from 553,000 during November, initially reported at 555,000. The
latest figure fell short of Consensus expectations for 550,000 starts. For the
year as a whole, starts nevertheless grew 5.8% from 2009 following a
three-quarters decline since the early-2006 peak.
The December decline reflected a 9.0% decline in starts of single-family homes to 417,000. The latest was the lowest level since May of 2009. Starts of multi-unit units increased a minimal 17.9% to 112,000 but remained down by one-quarter from three months ago. Starts of 2-to-4 unit structures, which are few in number, fell by one quarter m/m but starts with more than five units increased by one-quarter from the lowest level since February. Starts in the Midwest fell more than one-third m/m (-26.6% y/y) during December and starts in the Northeast fell one-quarter from November (-4.9% y/y). Starts in the South fell a minimal 2.2% (-16.0% y/y) but starts out West increased one-third m/m and by one-third y/y.
Working the other way, building permits rose 16.7% m/m (-6.8% y/y) to the highest level since March. Permits for single-family units rose 5.5% but remained down 14.9% from last December. Multi-family permits rose more than one-half m/m (18.9% y/y).
The housing starts figures can be found in Haver's USECON database.
Baby Boomers Face a Changing Retirement Landscape from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas is available here.
Housing Starts (000s,SAAR) | Dec | Nov | Oct | Dec Y/Y | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 529 | 553 | 533 | -8.2% | 586 | 554 | 900 |
Single-Family | 417 | 458 | 433 | -14.2 | 472 | 442 | 616 |
Multi-Family | 112 | 95 | 100 | 24.4 | 115 | 112 | 284 |
Starts By Region | |||||||
Northeast | 58 | 77 | 81 | -4.9 | 72 | 61 | 120 |
Midwest | 69 | 112 | 94 | -25.6 | 98 | 95 | 134 |
South | 262 | 268 | 263 | -16.0 | 296 | 281 | 451 |
West | 140 | 96 | 95 | 28.4 | 121 | 117 | 195 |
Building Permits | 635 | 544 | 552 | -6.8 | 595 | 583 | 896 |