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Residential construction data mostly dismal
Building permits were up but housing starts and housing completions dropped between November and December 2009, according to nationwide residential construction data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Year-over-year, it was dismal across the board.
Privately owned homes that received building permits last month were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 653,000, nearly 11 percent over November’s 589,000, the statistics show.
Housing starts month-over-month for privately owned homes were down a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 557,000, 4 percent below the revised November estimate of 580,000.
And privately owned housing completions last month dropped a seasonally adjusted rate of 768,000 from 865,000 in November.
Year-over-year, residential construction was in bad shape, the data show, with fewer building permits issued in 2009, fewer homes started and housing completions dropping. TRD