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Housing Starts Just About Flat in January
Total housing starts remained virtually unchanged in January, with single-family builders continuing to rein in new-home production, according to a Feb. 20 report from the Commerce Department.
Starts last month rose 0.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.01 million units. Single-family production sagged 5.2% to a yearly rate of 743,000 units. Multifamily starts, which tend to shown significant volatility from month to month, surged 22.3% to 269,000 units but remained well below their average for the final quarter of 2007.
"Builders continue to do what they need to do to reduce the inventory of units on the market, both by limiting new production and pulling fewer permits for new homes," said NAHB President Sandy Dunn. "We're doing our part and Congress needs to do its part as well so that housing can once again be a major engine of economic growth."
"Single-family builders in our latest surveys have indicated that improving affordability factors and the large selection of homes on the market have been helping draw more potential buyers to model homes in recent weeks," said NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders. "However, until that increased traffic of prospective buyers translates into higher home sales and significantly lower inventories, builders are doing the responsible thing to bring supply and demand back into alignment by keeping the brakes on new construction."
Declining for the 10th consecutive month, single-family housing starts reached a yearly pace of 743,000 units, while permits were down 4.1% to 673,000. Both were at their slowest rates since January 1991.
Overall permits, which can be an indicator of future building activity, fell 3% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.05 million, their weakest since November 1991. Multifamily permits were virtually unchanged for the month at a 375,000-unit annual rate.
Regionally, housing starts were mixed in January. They fell 6.2% in the West and 2.9% in the South, the two largest regional housing markets. Some positive offset was provided by an 18.9% gain in the Northeast and 12% growth in the Midwest.
 Want to Know the Housing Forecast for the Top 100 Metros?
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 Free NAHB Kit Gives Builders Back-to-Basics Tips to Navigate the Slowdown
What was once expected to be a relatively mild housing slump following three years of record new home construction and sales has given way to a significant downturn.
To help members navigate the uncharted waters of this slowdown, NAHB has compiled a comprehensive “Back to Basics” online toolkit — the best of the basics, the tried and true and the truly new. To access the toolkit, click here.
To access the “Back to Basics” toolkit, you must be an NAHB member and have a login to www.nahb.org. To create a login, go to www.nahb.org/login or click on the log-in button on the main menu bar.
For assistance, call the NAHB Member Service Center at 800-368-5242.
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