by Calculated Risk on 2/19/2014 08:30:00 AM
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Housing Starts decline to 880 Thousand Annual Rate in January
From the Census Bureau: Permits, Starts and Completions
Housing Starts:
Privately-owned housing starts in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 880,000. This is 16.0 percent below the revised December estimate of 1,048,000 and is 2.0 percent below the January 2013 rate of 898,000.
Single-family housing starts in January were at a rate of 573,000; this is 15.9 percent below the revised December figure of 681,000. The January rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 300,000.
emphasis added
Building Permits:
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 937,000. This is 5.4 percent below the revised December rate of 991,000, but is 2.4 percent above the January 2013 estimate of 915,000.
Single-family authorizations in January were at a rate of 602,000; this is 1.3 percent below the revised December figure of 610,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 309,000 in January.

The first graph shows single and multi-family housing starts for the last several years.
Multi-family starts (red, 2+ units) decreased in January (Multi-family is volatile month-to-month).
Single-family starts (blue) also decreased in January.
The second graph shows total and single unit starts since 1968.

This was below expectations of 950 thousand starts in January. Note: Starts for December were revised up to 1.048 million from 999 thousand. I'll have more later.