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Housing starts up slightly
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U.S Commerce Dept. numbers released today show housing production rose just one half percent in September and new home building permits fell by 1.2%.
Starts of new single-family homes made up some of the ground lost in previous months with a nearly 4 percent gain, to a 501,000-unit rate, while multifamily starts fell 15.2 percent to a meager 89,000 units.
"Builders are being extremely cautious right now in their efforts to maintain a modest inventory of new homes for sale," said Joe Robson, a home builder from Tulsa, Okla. and chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). "On top of the fact that it is nearly impossible to obtain construction financing for new units, there are widespread concerns about what will happen to demand with the expiration of the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit at the end of November."
Housing starts were down across three out of four regions in September, with the Northeast, Midwest and West posting declines of 11.5 percent, 6.1 percent, and 10.2 percent, respectively. The South was the only region to register an increase in starts during September, with a 7.5 percent gain for the month.
Permit issuance, which can be an indicator of future building activity, fell by 1.2 percent overall to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 573,000 units in September. Single-family permits were down 3 percent to 450,000 units while multifamily permits gained 5.1 percent to 123,000 units.
Regionally, permits were mixed in September. The Northeast and South posted declines of 3.1 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively, while the Midwest posted a 1 percent gain and the West posted no change for the month.
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