The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly announced the following new residential construction statistics for June 2013:
Building permits
· Privately owned housing units authorized by building permits in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 911,000. This is 7.5% (±1.0%) below the revised May rate of 985,000, but is 16.1% (±1.7%) above the June 2012 estimate of 785,000.
· Single-family authorizations in June were at a rate of 624,000; this is 0.6% (±1.2%)* above the revised May figure of 620,000.
· Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 261,000 in June.
Housing Starts
· Privately owned housing starts in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 836,000. This is 9.9% (±11.4%)* below the revised May estimate of 928,000, but is 10.4% (±14.9%)* above the June 2012 rate of 757,000.
· Single-family housing starts in June were at a rate of 591,000; this is 0.8% (±11.0%)* below the revised May figure of 596,000.
· The June rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 236,000.
*90% confidence interval includes zero. The Census Bureau does not have sufficient statistical evidence to conclude that the actual change is different from zero.
