New Residential Construction Activity Up in July

The number of new residential construction or privately-owned housing units rose by 8.1% in July to 1,052,000 from 973,000 units in June. The figure is also up by 7.7% from the July 2013 estimate of 977,000 said the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Census Bureau.

Single-family authorizations in July were at a rate of 640,000; this is 0.9 percent (±1.5%) above the revised June figure of 634,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 382,000 in July.

Privately owned housing starts in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,093,000. This is 15.7 percent (±10.9%) above the revised June estimate of 945,000 and is 21.7 percent (±10.7%) above the July 2013 rate of 898,000.  Single-family housing starts in July were at a rate of 656,000; this is 8.3 percent (±10.3%) above the revised June figure of 606,000. The July rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 423,000.

Privately owned housing completions in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 841,000. This is 3.7 percent (±8.2%) above the revised June estimate of 811,000 and is 8.0 percent (±9.9%) above the July 2013 rate of 779,000.  Single-family housing completions in July were at a rate of 635,000; this is 6.2 percent (±8.8%) above the revised June rate of 598,000. The July rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 199,000.

The HUD noted that month-to-month changes in seasonally adjusted statistics often show movements which may be irregular. It may take two months to establish an underlying trend for building permit authorizations, four months for total starts, and six months for total completions.

It added that the statistics are estimated from sample surveys and are subject to sampling variability as well as nonsampling error including bias and variance from response, nonreporting, and undercoverage. Estimated relative standard errors of the most recent data are shown in the tables.

“Whenever a statement such as “2.5 percent (±3.2%) above” appears in the text, this indicates the range (-0.7 to +5.7 percent) in which the actual percent change is likely to have occurred. All ranges given for percent changes are 90-percent confidence intervals and account only for sampling variability. If a range does not contain zero, the change is statistically significant. If it does contain zero, the change is not statistically significant; that is, it is uncertain whether there was an increase or decrease. The same policies apply to the confidence intervals for percent changes shown in the tables. On average, the preliminary seasonally adjusted estimates of total building permits, housing starts and housing completions are revised about three percent or less. Explanations of confidence intervals and sampling variability can be found on our web site listed above,” the HUD said in the statement.

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