U.S. Housing Starts Fall in December as Single-Family Projects Decline

By Ed Frankl

U.S. housing starts fell in December, albeit by less than expected, driven by less single-family construction. Here are the main takeaways from the Commerce Department's report released Thursday.

--Housing starts, a measure of U.S. homebuilding, fell 4.3% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.460 million.

--Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal expected starts to decrease 8.3% on month to 1.43 million.

--However, housing starts came in 7.6% above the same month a year earlier.

--The decline on month was driven by single-family projects, which dipped 8.6%. By contrast, multifamily projects rose 7.5%. Housing starts overall decreased on month in the Northeast, Midwest and South regions, but ticked up in the West.

--November's housing starts were downwardly revised to 1.525 million from the 1.560 million initially estimated.

--Monthly housing starts data are volatile. December data came with a margin of error of 12.5 percentage points.

--Residential permits, which can hint at future home construction, rose 1.9% in December on month, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.495 million. Economists expected permits to climb by 1.4% on month.

--Sentiment among home builders rose in January driven by declining mortgage rates and expectations interest rates would fall, data from the National Association of Home Builders showed Wednesday. However, there also were warnings that should home building expand, there will be higher prices or shortages for construction materials.

Write to Ed Frankl at edward.frankl@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 18, 2024 09:00 ET (14:00 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.