Briefing.com: Housing Starts

Updated: 19-Nov-24 09:21 ET

October Housing Starts

Updated: 19-Nov-24 09:21 ET

Highlights

Total housing starts declined 3.1% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.311 million units (Briefing.com consensus 1.340 million) with single-unit starts down 6.9%.
Building permits were down 0.6% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.416 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.441 million) with single-unit permits up just 0.5%.

Key Factors

The change in single-unit starts by region: Northeast (-28.7%); Midwest (+4.6%); South (-10.2%); and West (+4.6%).
The change in single-unit permits by region: Northeast (+11.7%); Midwest (-0.8%); South (+0.9%); and West (-2.7%).
Multi-unit starts increased 9.7% month-over-month while multi-unit permits were down 3.0%.
The number of units under construction at the end of the period decreased 1.9% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.465 million.

Big Picture

The key takeaway from the report is that it included some weather impact from the hurricanes, evidenced by a 10.2% month-over-month decline in starts in the South -- the nation's largest homebuilding region -- but overall it was a generally soft report on a year-over-year basis with total starts down 4.0% and total permits down 7.7%.