Housing starts, which had risen modestly in September and October, soared last month, topping 1.5 million units for the first time in 2023 . The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development said construction began during the month at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.560 million residential units. This was an increase of 14.8 percent from October’s rate of 1.359 million units. The November starts also topped those in November 2022 by 9.3 percent and were significantly higher than the consensus forecasts of both Econoday and Trading Economics at 1.360 million units. Construction started on single-family houses at an annual rate of 1.143 million units, an increase of 18.0 percent month-over-month and a whopping increase of 42.2 percent from the prior November. Multifamily starts rose 8.9 percent to 404,000 units, 33.7 percent fewer than a year earlier. Starts totaled 120,500 on an unadjusted basis, up from 113,700 in October. There were 86,100 single-family home starts compared to 80,800 the prior month. [housingchartall] Construction permits retreated from their October level. Units were authorized at an annual rate of 1.460 million units, a 2.5 percent decline from September but 4.1 percent higher on an annual basis. Single-family permits rose 0.7 percent to 976,000 annual units, 22.8 percent higher than in November 2022, while multifamily permits were down 9.6 percent and 21.3 percent from the two earlier periods. [housingpermitschart]
