Briefing.com: Housing Starts

Updated: 19-Feb-25 09:18 ET

January Housing Starts

Updated: 19-Feb-25 09:18 ET

Highlights

January housing starts declined 9.8% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.366 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.400 million) from an upwardly revised 1.515 million (from 1.499 million) in December.
Building permits rose 0.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.483 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.450 million) from a downwardly revised 1.482 million (from 1.483 million) in December.

Key Factors

The change in single-unit starts by region: Northeast (-14.5%); Midwest (-9.2%); South (-19.2%); and West (+24.9%).
The change in single-unit permits by region: Northeast (-1.6%); Midwest (+5.5%); South (-3.9%); and West (+8.0%).
Multi-unit starts declined 13.5% month-over-month while multi-unit permits were flat month-over-month.
The number of units under construction at the end of the period decreased 1.4% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.409 million.

Big Picture

The key takeaway from the report is that there was no growth in starts or permits for single-family housing units, which will contribute to ongoing affordability constraints in the existing home market, which is short on inventory. Single-unit starts were down 8.4% month-over-month while single-unit permits were flat.