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June New Home Construction Dips on Multi-Family Drop07-30-13 | News

June New Home Construction Dips on Multi-Family Drop

Steep declines in building permits and construction starts in the multi-family housing unit sector brought down residential construction levels in June after several months of gains. Construction starts and building permits for single-family units both increased month-over-month, however, and both categories overall remain well above June 2012 levels.

The annual pace of building permits for new homes increased 16.1 percent in June (year-over-year) to 911,000 units. A 21.4 percent slump in multifamily units (month-over-month) caused a 7.5 percent decline from the revised May rate, though single-family home starts improved. The overall pace remains short of the 2.1 million-unit peak set in 2005 during the housing boom.

The pace of residential housing starts grew 10.4 percent in June (YoY) to an 836,000-unit annualized rate, but fell 9.9 percent from the revised May estimate of 928,000 units. New single-family home starts increased 11.5 percent (YoY) to a 591,000-unit rate in June, a slight decrease from the 596,000-unit pace in May. A 26.8 percent decrease (MoM) in multifamily unit starts led to the decline.

Housing units under construction increased by 28.4 percent in June (YoY) to 624,000 units, a 0.5 percent improvement over the revised May estimate of 928,000 units. Single-family structures increased 19.8 percent (YoY) to 309,000 units, improving on May's revised total of 304,000 units. Multifamily units under construction improved 39.3 percent (YoY) despite a slight MoM decrease.

Completed housing units increased by 20.2 percent in June (YoY) to a 755,000-unit annual rate, 6.3 percent above the revised May estimate of 710,000 units. The 554,000 single-family unit rate, down 1.1 percent from May's 560,000-unit estimate, increased 15.4 percent year-over-year. The rate of completed multifamily units reached 188,000 in June, a 34.3 percent improvement month-over-month and 43.5 percent higher than June 2012.