November Housing Starts Take a Hit
After a grand October–and perhaps because of October–November housing starts stumbled in November, HUD and the Census Bureau reported Friday.
Privately owned housing starts in November came in at 1.090 million, an 18.7 percent drop from October’s revised 1.340 million and 7 percent down from a year ago. (1.171 million). Single-family housing starts totaled 828,000; 4.1 percent below the revised October figure of 863,000. The November rate for units in buildings with five units or more fell to 259,000, down by 44 percent from October and down by nearly 32 percent from a year ago.
Regionally, starts fell across the board. In the South, starts fell by 9.3 percent to 567,000 units, seasonally adjusted, from 625,000 in October and fell by 7 percent from a year ago. In the West, starts fell by 22.1 percent in November to 268,000 units from October’s 344,000 and was unchanged from a year ago. In the Northeast, starts fell by 52.1 percent in November to 80,000 units from 167,000 in October and fell by 36 percent from a year ago. In the Midwest, starts fell by 14.2 percent to 175,000 units in November from October’s 204,000 but improved by 3.6 percent from a year ago.
Ralph McLaughlin, chief economist with Trulia, San Francisco, said despite the sharp drop in November housing starts, the report showed some positive signs. “The drop was more than due to October’s big increase,” he said. “For context, housing starts in November were the second lowest since October of last year.”
McLaughlin said while starts dropped in November, “they continue to provide an important release valve for solid demand in the housing market, but still have much more room for growth,” he said. “We’re confident that housing starts will grow slow and steady through 2017 and beyond. [Last week’s] large jump in homebuilder sentiment is a good sign that they think so too. This will bring continued relief to homebuyers who have been stymied by a supply-constrained market over the past few years.”
The report said privately owned housing units authorized by building permits in November fell to 1.201 million, 4.7 percent below October’s revised 1.260 million and 6.6 percent down from a year ago. Single-family authorizations rose to 778,000; 0.5 percent above October’s revised 774,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were fell to 384,000 in November, down nearly 16 percent from October and down by 26.4 percent from a year ago.
Privately owned housing completions in November rose to 1.216 million, 15.4 percent higher than October’s revised 1.054 million and 25 percent higher than a year ago (973,000). Single-family housing completions in November rose by 3.3 percent to 774,000; the November rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 432,000, up by 44.5 percent from October(299,000) and up by 36.3 percent from a year ago.
