Housing starts were up 3.2% in November compared to a year earlier, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.37 million units.
New data from the HUD and US Commerce Dept. shows that the single-family sector there was a gain of 2.4% to 938,000 SAAR and for the multifamily sector the gain was 4.9% to 427,000 SAAR.
“Single-family homebuilding, which accounts for the largest share of new construction in the housing market, increased to its highest level since January,” commented First American Deputy Chief Economist Odeta Kushi. “Builders are responding to high demand, limited existing inventory for sale, and low borrowing costs.”
On a regional and year-to-date basis, combined single-family and multifamily starts in November up 0.9% in the Northeast and 7.4% higher in the South; but are down 5.8% in the Midwest and 8.7% in the West.
“Since the rebound in housing took hold earlier this year, single-family starts have posted a steady improvement in the pace of construction,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “Under the current estimates, the 2019 year-to-date total for single-family construction is just 0.4 percent lower than the 2018 sum and is on pace to come in relatively flat for the year.”
Permits also higher
Meanwhile, the stats show an increase in building permits to a 1.48 million annualized rate, up 1.4%.
“Single-family permits data, at 918,000, reached its highest point been since July 2007,” added Kushi. “Permits are a leading indicator of future starts, so this is another nod to the expected strength of demand in 2020. That said, building will have to exceed household formation for a number of years to reduce the housing stock ‘debt’ we have accumulated.”
Multifamily permits gained 2.5% to a 564,000 pace.
