Northeast drives gains in building permits, housing starts

Increases show confidence among homebuilders

The Northeast is driving gains in building permits and housing starts (iStock)
The Northeast is driving gains in building permits and housing starts (iStock)

Building permits and housing starts in the U.S. jumped in September, largely driven by activity in the Northeast.

Privately owned housing starts reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.41 million units, up 1.9 percent from a revised August estimate, according to Inman. Single-family housing saw 1,108,000 units, up 8.5 percent from August, based on census data.

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“Today’s U.S. Census data shows that permits, starts and completions were bolstered by record-high builder optimism, and a strong wave of buyer demand in September,” realtor.com senior economist George Ratiu told Inman in a statement. “However, homebuilders must balance the need to address an acute shortage of housing with the increasing costs of labor, materials and land.”

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Building permits for privately owned housing units increased 5.2 percent from August, and single-family authorizations went up 7.8 percent. Month-over-month completions in both of these categories jumped 15.3 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.

Activity in the Northeast largely drove the increases. New, privately-owned housing units authorized on a seasonally adjusted basis in the region were up by 25.8 percent from August, and the total number of new privately owned housing units started skyrocketed 66.7 percent.

[Inman] — Sasha Jones