Economic Snapshot: Housing starts up 10.8 percent from 2014

The housing market continues to steadily grow into 2016. An estimated 1,111,200 housing units were started in 2015, 10.8 percent above the 2014 figure of 1,003,300. Builder confidence remains in the low 60s.

Housing starts

Privately owned housing starts in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,149,000. This is 2.5 percent below the revised November estimate of 1,179,000 but is 6.4 percent above the December 2014 rate of 1,080,000.

Single-family housing starts in December were at a rate of 768,000, which is 3.3 percent below the revised November figure of 194,000.

Privately owned housing completions in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,013,000. This is 5.6 percent above the revised November estimate of 959,000 and is 7.9 percent above the December 2014 rate of 939,000.

Single-family housing completions in December were at a rate of 696,000, which is 8.8 percent above the revised November rate of 640,000.

An estimated 965,700 housing units were completed in 2015. This is 9.3 percent above the 2014 figure of 883,800.

Housing Market Index

Builder confidence held steady at 60 in January from a downwardly revised December reading of 60.

The component gauging current sales conditions rose two points to 67. The index measuring sales expectations in the next six months fell three points to 63 and the component charting buyer traffic dropped two points to 44.

Looking at the three-month moving averages for regional HMI scores, all four regions registered slight declines. The Northeast, Midwest and West each posted a one-point decline to 49, 57 and 75, respectively, and the South fell two points to 61.

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