U.S. Housing Starts Decline in January
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
- Severe winter weather limited building activity.
- Regional changes remain mixed.
- Building permits are little changed.
Housing starts declined 4.1% (+0.8% y/y) during January to 1.638 million (SAAR) from 1.708 million in December, revised from 1.702 million. It was the lowest level of starts in three months. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 1.700 million starts during January. Data for 2021 were revised.
Starts of single-family units declined 5.6% (-2.4% y/y) in January to 1.116 million from 1.182 million in December. It also was the lowest level since October. Multi-family housing starts eased 0.8% (+8.3% y/y) to 522,000 from 526,000. The latest level remained near the highest since February 2020.
By region, housing starts in the Northeast rose 2.6% (-41.2% y/y) in January to 120,000. Starts in the Midwest fell 37.7% (-4.3% y/y) to 200,000. In the South, housing starts eased 2.0% (+8.5% y/y) to 880,000. Starts in the West increased 17.7% (9.2% y/y) to a near record 438,000.
Building permits edged 0.7% higher (0.8% y/y) to 1.899 million from 1.885 million in December. It was the highest level of permits since May 2006. Permits to build single-family homes gained 6.8% (-5.0% y/y) in January to 1.205 million units. Permits to build multi-family homes fell 8.3% (+12.8% y/y) to 694,000.
The housing starts and permits figures can be found in Haver's USECON database. The expectations figure is contained in the AS1REPNA database.
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
Global
