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October 19, 2021US HOUSING STARTS AND BUILDING PERMITS, SEPTEMBER 2021 With September reference month results, year-to-date (Jan-Sep 21 vs Jan-Sep 20) are in part showing the rebounds in economic activity from the unprecedented declines observed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
BUILDING PERMITS
According to the US Census Bureau and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, residential building permits declined 7.7% from the revised August estimate of 1,721,000 permits to a seasonally adjusted rate of 1,589,000 permits in September 2021.
US residential building permits were unchanged from the same month last year. Compared to September 2020, permits for single unit structures declined 7.1% while permits for structuers with 2 to 4 units increased 8.7%, and permits for structures with 5 units or more increased 18.0%.
In the first nine months of 2021, residential permits were up 20.6%, with increases for single unit structures (+21.2%), those with 2 to 4 units (+14.3%) and structures with 5 or more units (+20.0%) when compared to the same period in 2020.
HOUSING STARTS
In September 2021, US housing starts declined 1.6% compared to the revised August estimate of 1,580,000, to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1,555,000 units.
Compared to September 2020, US housing starts were up 7.4%. Starts for single unit structures declined 2.3% while starts for structures with 5 or more units were up 38.2%.
Year to date, US housing starts were up 18.5% compared to Jan-Sep 2020, with increased starts for single unit (+19.9%) and structures with 5 or more units (+15.6%).
Source: US Census Bureau New Residential Construction
US Census Bureau - retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Monthly data