by Calculated Risk on 12/19/2017 08:43:00 AM

From the Census Bureau: Permits, Starts and Completions

Housing Starts:
Privately-owned housing starts in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,297,000. This is 3.3 percent above the revised October estimate of 1,256,000 and is 12.9 percent above the November 2016 rate of 1,149,000. Single-family housing starts in November were at a rate of 930,000; this is 5.3 percent above the revised October figure of 883,000. The November rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 359,000.

Building Permits:
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,298,000. This is 1.4 percent below the revised October rate of 1,316,000, but is 3.4 percent above the November 2016 rate of 1,255,000. Single-family authorizations in November were at a rate of 862,000; this is 1.4 percent above the revised October figure of 850,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 395,000 in November.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows single and multi-family housing starts for the last several years.

Multi-family starts (red, 2+ units) decreased slightly in November compared to October.   However Multi-family starts were up year-over-year.

Multi-family is volatile month-to-month, but has been mostly moving sideways to down recently.

Single-family starts (blue) increased in November, and are up solidly year-over-year.

The second graph shows total and single unit starts since 1968.

 The second graph shows the huge collapse following the housing bubble, and then - after moving sideways for a couple of years - housing is now recovering (but still historically low),

Total housing starts in November were above expectations.  Starts for September and October were revised down, combined.

I'll have more later ...