The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Friday morning that new housing starts in September rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.017 million, an increase of 6.3% from the upwardly revised August rate of 957,000, and an increase of 17.8% compared with the September 2013 rate of 863,000. The consensus estimate from a survey of economists expected a rate of around 1.01 million.
The upward revision to the August rate was a modest 1,000 starts. That won’t affect the August drop of 14.4% from July starts in a significant way, but it does make September look a bit better.
The seasonally adjusted rate of new building permits also rose in September, to 1.018 million, up 1.5% from the upwardly revised August rate of 1.003 million and 2.5% above the September 2013 rate of 993,000.
Single-family housing starts rose to an annualized rate of 646,000 in August, up 1.1% from the downwardly revised August rate of 639,000.
Permits for new single-family homes fell 0.5% in September to an adjusted annual rate of 624,000 from a downwardly revised total of 627,000 in August.
Multi-family starts for buildings with five or more units, a more volatile number than single-family starts, rose 6.3% year-over-year in September.
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