Housing Starts Climb 3.3 Percent in November

Single-family category comes in 13 percent ahead of last November.

This story was originally published in Builder.

Housing starts in November rose 3.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,297,000, 12.9 percent ahead of the same month last year, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday morning.

Single-family housing starts in November were up 5.3 percent from October to a rate of 930,000, 13 percent ahead of November 2016. Multifamily was up marginally on a sequential basis to a rate of 359,000 units.

Building permits in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,298,000, down 1.4 percent from the revised October rate of 1,316,000 but 3.4 percent above the November 2016 rate of 1,255,000. Single-family authorizations in November were at a rate of 862,000, 1.4 percent above the revised October figure of 850,000 and 9.7 percent ahead of the pace of November 2016. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 395,000 in November, down 8.8 percent from October and 7.7 percent from a year earlier.

Housing completions in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,116,000, 6.1 percent below the revised October estimate of 1,189,000 and 7.2 percent below the November 2016 rate of 1,203,000. Single-family housing completions in November were at a rate of 752,000, 4.6 percent below the revised October rate of 788,000. The November rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 353,000, down 10.4 percent from October and 17.1 percent from a year earlier.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, was buoyed by the report. “A welcoming trend is developing in the housing sector as builders are able to bring more supply to the market on a consistent basis. The latest monthly figure of near 1.3 million annualized housing starts is solid, and the growth is mostly coming both in the West and for single-family homes," he said.

"There is still more room for improvement, as the latest figure is still not yet at the long-term 50-year average of producing 1.5 million units per year. If this rising trend continues, the worst of the supply shortage could soon end, which would help slow price appreciation in 2018. That would be a huge, welcoming relief for renters seeking to become homeowners.”