New Housing Starts Rise Again in November

The Census Bureau reported this morning that new housing starts in the US rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 685,000, up 9.3% from the revised October figure of 627,000 and up 24.3% from the November 2010 figure of 551,000. The consensus estimate among economists was for housing starts to rise to 630,000.

Combined with other recent data on housing, the Census Bureau’s report indicates that a turn-around may be getting underway in home construction. The National Association of Home Builders yesterday reported an increase in its homebuilders confidence index to 21, but it is still far below 50, the point at which more builders see the market as favorable than as unfavorable.

The Census Bureau also reported that building permits rose 5.7% in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 681,000 from the revised 644,000 October total and higher by 20.7% than the 564,000 reported in October 2010.

Multi-family buildings with five or more units saw the biggest rise in starts, up 32.2%, from 174,000 in October to 230,000 in November.