April 2007 Housing ConstructionUS residential construction (authorized building permits, housing starts and housing completions remained in April as considerably lower levels compared to April 2006. Building Permits According to data released by the US Census Bureau, seasonally adjusted April building permits for privately-owned housing units were 8.9 percent lower than the previous month and 28.1 percent below the revised April 2006 estimate. Single-family authorizations in April were at a rate of 1,063,000, representing a 6.0 percent drop from the previous month. Housing Starts Seasonally adjusted April starts for privately-owned housing units were 2.5 percent above the previous month and 16.1 percent below the revised April 2006 estimate. Single-family housing starts in April were at a rate of 1,225,000 representing a 1.6 percent increase above the previous month. It should be noted that the monthly percent change numbers indicating increases in housing starts from previous month are not statistically significant as the statistical error is quite large. Housing Completions Privately-owned housing completions in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,523,000, representing a 5.8 percent drop from the revised March level and a 26.0 percent drop below the revised April 2006 level. Single-family housing completions in April were at a rate of 1,261,000 representing a 3.4 percent drop from the March figure. Again, the monthly change is statistically significant but the change from April of last year is statistically significant as indicated in the joint US Bureau of the Census and HUD press release. Check the full release..
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