In the twelve months up to and including October, housing starts in the US decreased by 4.2% vis à vis the adjusted figures up to and including September to 1.425m. The ongoing decline since May thus continued. Compared to April, at which time the peak of the last 17 years had been reached (1.80m units), the decline rate amounts to 21.1%. According to statistics published by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development housing starts for detached houses fell by 6.1% to 855,000 units. In the case of multi-family houses (556,000 units), housing starts fell just slightly short of the preceding month’s figure.
Building approvals, at 1.526m units, were 2.4% lower than the preceding month’s figure. Compared to the peak reached in March (1.879m units), this corresponds to a decline of 18.8%. The decline in approvals for detached houses (-3.6% to 839,000 units) and living units in multi-family houses (-1.9% to 633,000) could be only partially offset by an increase in the case of two- to four-family houses (+10.2% to 54,000 units).
