by Calculated Risk on 12/17/2019 08:41:00 AM

From the Census Bureau: Permits, Starts and Completions

Housing Starts:
Privately‐owned housing starts in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,365,000. This is 3.2 percent above the revised October estimate of 1,323,000 and is 13.6 percent above the November 2018 rate of 1,202,000. Single‐family housing starts in November were at a rate of 938,000; this is 2.4 percent above the revised October figure of 916,000. The November rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 404,000.

Building Permits:
Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,482,000. This is 1.4 percent above the revised October rate of 1,461,000 and is 11.1 percent above the November 2018 rate of 1,334,000. Single‐family authorizations in November were at a rate of 918,000; this is 0.8 percent (±1.3 percent)* above the revised October figure of 911,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 524,000 in November.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows single and multi-family housing starts for the last several years.

Multi-family starts (red, 2+ units) were up in November compared to October.   Multi-family starts were up 7.3% year-over-year in November.

Multi-family is volatile month-to-month, and  has been mostly moving sideways the last several years.

Single-family starts (blue) increased in November, and were up 16.7% year-over-year.

The second graph shows total and single unit starts since 1968.

The second graph shows the huge collapse following the housing bubble, and then eventual recovery (but still historically low).

Total housing starts in November were above expectations and revisions were minor.

I'll have more later …