Building Permits on the Decline in July

Single-family authorizations in July were at a rate of 404,000; this is 0.5 percent above the revised June figure of 402,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 171,000 in July.

Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 597,000. This is 3.2 percent below the revised June rate of 617,000, but is 3.8 percent above the July 2010 estimate of 575,000. Single unit authorizations declined at 1.2 percent with 5 or more units increasing 18.8 percent and no change for 2 to 4 units.

The West was the region that fared the best with an overall increase of 15 percent during the past year, with an increase of 4.9 percent for single units. The Midwest did the poorest with an overall decline of 9.8 percent and was down 4.2 percent for single units.

- Courtesy of US Census Bureau