Although the pace of building permits for residential properties accelerated, there was a month-over-month decline in the rate of homes completed.
Municipalities issued residential building permits at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.150
million during October, according to preliminary data.
Building permits increased from the prior month, when the rate was 1.105 million.
September’s rate was revised up from 1.103 million originally reported.
The Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly released the data Wednesday.
Permits were also up from the same month last year, when the seasonally adjusted annual rate was 1.120 million.
The South had an eight percent gain from September to an annual rate of 0.587 million. In the Northeast, there was a six percent increase to 0.125 million, while the Midwest was up two percent to 0.172 million.
Only the West suffered a month-over-month decline in the annual rate, by three percent to 0.266 million.
From September to October, the U.S. rate was up two percent for just one-unit properties, down eight percent on two-to-four unit properties and up eight percent on multifamily properties.
Last month’s
total permits issued, without any seasonal adjustment, was 97,100.
As of Oct. 31, there were 141,000 housing units authorized but not yet started, up one percent from September and leaping 19 percent from October 2014.
In the South, 70,000 units were authorized by not started, up five percent from September and the only regional increase.
No change was reported for the Northeast, which finished last month at 27,000 units, and in the Midwest, which closed out October with 18,000 units.
A four percent decline from September left 26,000 units in the West authorized but not yet started.
Builders broke ground on
U.S. housing units at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.060 million during the most recent month, down 11 percent from a month earlier and off two percent from a year earlier.
Construction was started on privately owned housing units at a rate of 0.161 million in the Midwest, surging 15 percent from September and the biggest month-over-month gain. A 10 percent increase had the annual rate at 0.140 million in the Northeast.
In the West, construction was started at an annual rate of 0.253 million during October, down 16 percent. The South had the biggest decline from September: 19 percent to 0.506 million.
The report indicated that a seasonally adjusted
938,000 U.S. housing units were under construction as of Oct. 31, 2015, inching up a percent from a month earlier and climbing 16 percent from a year earlier.
Builders completed
construction at a seasonally adjusted 965,000 annual rate. The rate fell six percent on a month-over-month basis but rose five percent on a year-over-year basis.
In the South, the rate was up one percent to 455,000, while it crept up less than a percent in the West to 240,000.
But a two percent decline was recorded in the Northeast to 122,000. The biggest drop from September — 31 percent — left the annual rate at 148,000 in the Midwest.
