The U.S. Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued their report on New Residential Construction for May 2012 showing an increase in single-family home building permits from the year before of 19.9 percent and a 26.2 percent increase in new home starts for the same period.
Highlights from the May 2012 Report:
- Building permits issued for single-family residences were at an annual rate of 494,000 homes which is a 4.0 percent increase from the prior month and an increase of 19.9 percent from a year before.
- Housing starts for single-family residences were at an annual rate of 516,000 which is a increase of 3.2 percent from the prior month and an increase of 26.2 percent from a year before.
- Homes completed were at an annual rate of 458,000 homes, which is a decrease of 6.3 percent from the prior month and an increase of 3.6 percent from a year before.
As I say every month, we need to remember that all the numbers above are “seasonally adjusted” annual rates and the year over year comparisons are just comparing the numbers for the current month versus the a year before. Another way I like to look at where things stand is to simply look at the year to date data; actual numbers, not seasonally adjusted, compared to last years ytd numbers at this same time. I think this may give a little better comparison so those numbers are below:
- In May, there were 50,100 permits issued for new homes compared with 39,700 the same month of the prior year.
- In May, there were 50,600 new homes started compared with 40,900 the same month of the prior year.
- 6In May, there were 38,500 new homes completed compared with 36,600 the same month of the prior year
New home construction is definitely trending upward however unless it can last for a couple of more months I doubt we can start using the “r” word (recovery).
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