In the USA, housing starts in the twelve-month period up to and including August increased by 9.2% to 1.282m units compared with the twelve-month period up to and including July. In the previous month, the housing starts had only increased by 0.9%. The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development report a 1.9% increase to 876,000 housing starts for single-family homes in their latest monthly report. For multi-family houses, a stronger increase of 27.3% to 392,000 units was recorded.
In the twelve months up to and including August, building permits for 1.229m units fell short of the previous month's figure by 5.7%. The positive development recorded in July has thus turned negative again. In the current year, building permits also increased in March (+2.5%), while declines were recorded in the remaining months. In the twelve-month period up to and including August, 820,000 single-family homes (-6.1%) and 370,000 apartments (-8.0%) in apartment buildings were approved. The declines were only partially offset by an increase in approvals for apartments in two to four-family houses (+39.2% to 39,000 units).
At 1.213m units, completions in the reporting period were 2.5% higher than in the previous month. In July, completions had fallen by 1.7%. In the reporting period, an increase in completed single-family homes (+11.6% to 923,000 units) was offset by a decrease in housing completions in apartment buildings (-18.6% to 285,000 units).