Housing starts in the United States jumped 3.2 percent from a month earlier to an annualized rate of 1,256 thousand in November of 2018, beating market forecasts of a 0.2 percent drop. Starts went up in the Northeast and the South but slumped in the Midwest and the West. The multi-family segment soared while single-family homebuilding reached the lowest level since May 2017. Housing Starts in the United States averaged 1432.19 Thousand units from 1959 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 2494 Thousand units in January of 1972 and a record low of 478 Thousand units in April of 2009.

Housing Starts in the United States is expected to be 1330.00 Thousand units by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Housing Starts in the United States to stand at 1215.69 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the United States Housing Starts is projected to trend around 1280.00 Thousand units in 2020, according to our econometric models.

United States Housing Starts
width
height
 Preview
Forecast Data Chart
Trading Economics members can view, download and compare data from nearly 200 countries, including more than 20 million economic indicators, exchange rates, government bond yields, stock indexes and commodity prices.

The Trading Economics Application Programming Interface (API) provides direct access to our data. It allows API clients to download millions of rows of historical data, to query our real-time economic calendar, subscribe to updates and receive quotes for currencies, commodities, stocks and bonds.

API Features Documentation Interested? Click here to contact us

Calendar GMT Actual Previous Consensus TEForecast
2018-09-19 12:30 PM Housing Starts 1.282M 1.174M 1.235M 1.171M
2018-10-17 12:30 PM Housing Starts 1.201M 1.268M 1.22M 1.25M
2018-11-20 01:30 PM Housing Starts 1.228M 1.21M 1.23M 1.22M
2018-12-18 01:30 PM Housing Starts 1.256M 1.217M 1.225M 1.22M
2019-01-28 01:30 PM Housing Starts 1.256M 1.254M 1.330M
2019-02-20 01:30 PM Housing Starts
2019-03-19 12:30 PM Housing Starts



US Housing Starts Beat Forecasts

Housing starts in the United States jumped 3.2 percent from a month earlier to an annualized rate of 1,256 thousand in November of 2018, beating market forecasts of a 0.2 percent drop. Starts went up in the Northeast and the South but slumped in the Midwest and the West. The multi-family segment soared while single-family homebuilding reached the lowest level since May 2017.

Starts for the volatile multi-family housing segment jumped 24.9 percent to a rate of 417 thousand. On the other hand, single-family homebuilding, which accounts for the largest share of the housing market, went down 4.6 percent to a rate of 824 thousand units, the third straight monthly fall and the the lowest level since May 2017. Starts increased in the South (15.1 percent to 687 thousand) and the Northeast (37.8 percent to 124 thousand) but fell in the West (-14.2 percent to 289 thousand) and the Midwest (-19.2 percent to 156 thousand). Starts for October were revised to 1,217 thousand from 1,228 thousand.

Building permits rose 5 percent from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,328 thousand, compared to market expectations of a 0.4 percent fall. Single-family authorizations edged up 0.1 percent to 848 thousand and multi-family permits advanced 14.8 percent to 480 thousand. Across regions, permits went up in the South (10.5 percent to 708 thousand) and the West (1.6 percent to 323 thousand) while in the Northeast permits were unchanged (at 120 thousand) and in the Midwest dropped (-4.8 percent to 177 thousand).

Year-on-year, housing starts fell 3.6 percent and building permits edged up 0.4 percent.


US Census Bureau | Joana Taborda | joana.taborda@tradingeconomics.com
12/18/2018 1:56:22 PM


News

US Housing Starts Rise Slightly Less than Expected
Housing starts in the US increased 1.5 percent from a month earlier to an annualized rate of 1,228 thousand in October of 2018, following an upwardly revised 5.5 percent drop in September and compared with market expectations of a 1.6 percent rise. The multi-family segment led the rise while construction of single-family houses declined for a second month. Starts rebounded in the South after being hurt by Hurricane Florence in September but fell in the Northeast and the West.
Published on 2018-11-20

US Housing Starts Fall More than Expected
Housing starts in the US dropped 5.3 percent from a month earlier to an annualized rate of 1,201 thousand in September of 2018, following a 7.1 percent gain in August and compared with market expectations of a 4.5 percent fall. Starts in the South declined the most since October 2015 mainly due to Hurricane Florence, which hit North and South Carolina in September.
Published on 2018-10-17

US Housing Starts Above Forecasts
Housing starts in the US jumped 9.2 percent from a month earlier to an annualized rate of 1,282 thousand in August of 2018, recovering from a 0.3 percent drop in July and beating market expectations of a 5.8 percent rise. Starts increased in the South, the Midwest and the West and were flat in the Northeast.
Published on 2018-09-19

US Housing Starts Rise Less than Expected
Housing starts in the US rose 0.9 percent from a month earlier to an annualized rate of 1,168 thousand in July 2018, recovering from an upwardly revised 12.9 percent drop in June, but missing market expectations of a 7.4 percent increase to 1,260 thousand.
Published on 2018-08-16



United States Housing Last Previous Highest Lowest Unit
Building Permits 1328.00 1265.00 2419.00 513.00 Thousand [+]
Housing Starts 1256.00 1217.00 2494.00 478.00 Thousand units [+]
New Home Sales 544.00 597.00 1389.00 270.00 Thousand [+]
Pending Home Sales -7.70 -6.70 30.90 -24.30 percent [+]
Existing Home Sales 5320.00 5220.00 7250.00 1370.00 Thousand [+]
Construction Spending -0.10 -0.10 5.90 -4.80 percent [+]
Housing Index 0.30 0.20 1.20 -1.80 percent [+]
Nahb Housing Market Index 58.00 56.00 78.00 8.00 [+]
Mortgage Rate 4.74 4.74 10.56 3.47 percent [+]
Mortgage Applications 13.50 23.50 49.10 -38.80 percent [+]
Case Shiller Home Price Index 213.89 213.76 213.89 100.00 Index Points [+]
Home Ownership Rate 64.40 64.30 69.20 62.90 percent [+]


United States Housing Starts

Housing Starts refer to the number of new residential construction projects that have begun during any particular month. Estimates of housing starts include units in structures being totally rebuilt on an existing foundation. . This page provides the latest reported value for - United States Housing Starts - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news. United States Housing Starts - actual data, historical chart and calendar of releases - was last updated on January of 2019.

Actual Previous Highest Lowest Dates Unit Frequency
1256.00 1217.00 2494.00 478.00 1959 - 2018 Thousand units Monthly
Volume, SA




Country Last Previous
Canada 213.42 Dec/18
France 33700.00 Nov/18
Japan -0.60 Nov/18
Russia 6.80 Nov/18
Spain 0.86 Sep/18
Turkey 5598.00 Sep/18
United Kingdom 41190.00 Jun/18
United States 1256.00 Nov/18


Related
Latest