January Housing Starts Slow From Record Pace
Coming off last year’s record fourth quarter, the pace of housing production in January slowed to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.903 million units, the Commerce Department reported last Wednesday.
That was 7.9% below a revised 2.06-million-unit annual pace in December, but 4.1% above the rate a year earlier and 12% over the 1.848 million units started in 2003, which was the highest in 26 years.
“Builders have just finished an incredibly strong year and we are starting 2004 at a pace that will keep us on track to match 2003’s production,” said NAHB President Bobby Rayburn.
Single-family starts dipped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.537 million units in January, which was 8% below the revised December rate and 1.9% above the pace a year earlier.