Residential construction levels fell in all categories in December, exacerbated by an upward revision to November's estimates. Building permits and housing starts dropped below the million-unit rate after breaching it the previous month, declining 3.0 and 9.8 percent respectively, and housing completions lost 10.8 percent from November to December. Year-end declines in construction activity are common and are usually caused by cold weather.

All components of residential construction activity – housing permits, starts and completions – declined from November to December, according to new Census Bureau data. All but one previous November estimates, however, were revised upward.

Permits
Building permits for residential construction were issued at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 986,000 units, down 3.0 percent from the new November estimate of 1.017 million. November permits were originally reported at a rate of 1.007 million. The December estimate improved on the December 2012 permit level, a rate of 943,000 units, by 4.6 percent. An estimated 974,700 housing units were authorized by permit in 2013, 17.5 percent more than the estimate for 2012

Single-family permits in December were at a rate of 610,000, 4.8 percent below the revised November rate of 641,000, originally estimated at 634,000. Multifamily permits fell 0.6 percent, from 352,000 in November to 350,000 in December.

Starts
Housing starts decreased by 9.8 percent in December to an annual rate of 999,000 units, falling from a revised November figure of 1.107 million that was originally reported at 1.091 million. Starts were 1.6 percent above the 983,000-unit pace in December 2012. Census Bureau and HUD data estimates that there were 923,400 housing units started over the course of 2013, 18.3 percent higher than the 780,600 starts in 2012.

Single-family starts were estimated at a rate of 667,000, down 7.0 percent from November. The November rate was originally estimated at 727,000 and was revised down to 717,000, the. There were 312,000 multiunit buildings completed in December, down 17.9 percent from 380,000 the previous month.

Completions
Housing completions were estimated at a rate of 744,000 units, down 10.8 percent from November's estimate of 834,000, but 10.7 percent higher than one year earlier when completions were estimated at a rate of 672,000. Housing starts for November were revised upward from 823,000.