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Housing Starts Decline in January02-20-07 | News

Housing Starts Decline in January

WASHINGTON D.C. ?EUR??,,????'??+ Total housing starts declined 14.3 percent in January according to figures released by the Commerce Department. The pace of construction for the month slowed to seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.408 million units. This was 37.8 percent below the January 2006 pace.

?EUR??,,????'??Home sales apparently stabilized late last year, but the overhang of unsold housing inventory still is quite heavy,?EUR??,,????'?? said NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders. ?EUR??,,????'??Builders have been cutting back on starts of new units to bring supply and demand back into balance.?EUR??,,????'??

Single-family housing starts decreased 11.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.108 million units in January. This was 38.9 percent below the pace of single-family starts a year earlier.

Multifamily housing construction was down 24.1 percent for the month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 300,000 units in January. The decrease followed a 34.4 percent increase in multifamily construction the month before.

Builders decreased the pace of permit issuance by 2.8 percent in January to 1.568 million units, a level that was 28.6 percent below a year ago. Single-family permit issuance was down four percent to a pace of 1.121 million units for the month. This was 32.6 percent below a year earlier.

The pace of multifamily permit issuance increased 0.4 percent to 447,000 units for the month. This was 15.8 percent below the January 2006 pace.

Regionally, housing starts decreased in three of four regions across the country in January. Construction of new homes and apartments was down 15.2 percent in the Midwest, 11.8 percent in the South and 28.5 percent in the West. Favorable weather patterns in the Northeast in January helped boost starts there by 8.9 percent. All four regions, however, reported a pace of construction well below a year earlier.