New residential construction for single family houses increased year-to-year but registered a slight decrease month-to-month in August.

New residential construction for privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 998,000 in August, a 5.6 percent decrease from July's numbers. However, this is 5.3 percent higher than the August 2013 estimate of 948,000.

Single-family authorizations in August were at a rate of 626,000, 0.8 percent below the revised July figure of 631,000.

Privately-owned housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted rate of 956,000 for August. This is 14.4 percent below July 2014's estimate, but 8 percent above the August 2013 rate.

Single-family housing completions in August were at a rate of 591,000, 8.2 percent below the revised July
rate of 644,000.

Sales of new single-family houses in August 2014 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 504,000, 18 percent above the revised July rate of 427,000 and 33 percent above the August 2013 estimate of 379,000.