Housing Completions Fall in December

 

Single-family housing completions in December were at a rate of 503,000; this is 11.1 percent (???????(R)???????+???????(R)??????oe???????(R)???????+???????(R)????????10.2 percent) below the revised November rate of 566,000. The December rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 245,000. An estimated 796,000 housing units were completed in 2009. This is 28.9 percent below the 2008 figure of 1,119,700.
- Photo Courtesy of Riverside County

Privately-owned housing completions in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 768,000. This is 11.2 percent (???????(R)???????+???????(R)??????oe???????(R)???????+???????(R)????????13.6 percent) below the revised November estimate of 865,000 and is 25.3 percent (???????(R)???????+???????(R)??????oe???????(R)???????+???????(R)????????8.6 percent) below the December 2008 rate of 1,028,000. The poor numbers in the housing industry reflect how poorly the economy did in 2009, but you can expect slow recovery in 2010.

As far as houses completed, the Midwest was down 6.8 percent from last December and decreased 15.2 percent from November, while the South decreased 22 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively. The West fared the worst, coming in at 39.8 percent down from a year ago and a decrease of 21.6 percent from November. ?EUR??,,????'?????<