US housing starts and building permits beat estimates
US housing starts in the US fell less than expected in December while building permits rose strongly, according to data released on Thursday by the Census Bureau.
On a seasonally adjusted annual rate, privately‐owned housing starts fell 4.3% over the month to 1.460m, reversing sharply after 10.8% growth in November.
However, this was 7.6% ahead of December 2022 and above the consensus estimate of 1.426m.
Meanwhile, building permits were up 1.9% in December at an annual rate of 1.495m, 6.1% ahead of the same month the year before and above market expectations of 1.480m.
"Most of the drop in housing starts reflects the partial reversal of the spike in November single-family starts, but the less-volatile permits numbers suggest that the steady uptrend in single-family construction will continue," said Kieran Clancy, senior US economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
"Most construction is single-family, so the net result of the uptrend in single-family starts and downtrend in multi-family starts likely will be a continued steady increase in total construction and residential investment over the next few quarters."
For 2023 as a whole, 1.413m housing units were started, down 9% on 2022, while building permits fell 11.7% to 1.470m. A total of 1.453m houses were completed in 2023, up 4.5% over the year.