In the 12 months up to and including November, building approvals in the USA decreased by 11.2% vis à vis the adjusted figures up to and including October to 1.342m units. According to statistics published by the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, approvals thus reached their lowest level in more than two years. The last time approvals had been lower was June 2020 (1.258m units). Compared to this year’s peak reached in March (1.879m units), this corresponds to a decline of 28.6%. Declines were recorded in approvals for detached houses (-7.1% to 781,000 units) and for living units in multi-family houses (-17.9% to 509,000). For living units in two- to four-family houses, 52,000 approvals were issued - an increase of 2.0%.
Housing starts declined by 0.5% to 1.427m units. For October, the U.S. Census Bureau had provisionally reported 1.425m housing starts. The downward trend of the previous months thus continued. Compared to the peak reached in April (1.805m units), this corresponds to a decline of 20.9%. According to the current statistics, the decline in housing starts concerning detached houses (-4.1% to 828,000 units) could not be fully offset by growth in the case of multi-family houses (+4.8% to 584,000 units).
