by Calculated Risk on 2/16/2024 08:30:00 AM

From the Census Bureau: Permits, Starts and Completions

Housing Starts:
Privately‐owned housing starts in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,331,000. This is 14.8 percent below the revised December estimate of 1,562,000 and is 0.7 percent below the January 2023 rate of 1,340,000. Single‐family housing starts in January were at a rate of 1,004,000; this is 4.7 percent below the revised December figure of 1,054,000. The January rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 314,000.

Building Permits:
Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,470,000. This is 1.5 percent below the revised December rate of 1,493,000, but is 8.6 percent above the January 2023 rate of 1,354,000. Single‐family authorizations in January were at a rate of 1,015,000; this is 1.6 percent above the revised December figure of 999,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 405,000 in January.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows single and multi-family housing starts since 2000.

Multi-family starts (blue, 2+ units) decreased in January compared to December.   Multi-family starts were down 36.8% year-over-year in January.

Single-family starts (red) decreased in January and were up 22.0% year-over-year.

The second graph shows single and multi-family housing starts since 1968.

This shows the huge collapse following the housing bubble, and then the eventual recovery - and the recent collapse and recovery in single-family starts.

Total housing starts in January were below expectations, however, starts in November and December were revised up sharply, combined.

I'll have more later …