Single-family starts decreased 8.6% on a month-over-month basis to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,027,000 in December, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Urban Development. Overall, privately owned starts in December ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,460,000, a 4.3% decrease compared with November levels but 7.6% above December 2022 levels.
“Single-family starts slightly pulled back from a strong November but still recorded the second strongest seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 2023,” says Nik Scoolis, manager, housing economics, for Zonda. “Given the momentum seen in the fourth quarter, there is optimism that single-family starts will fare better in 2024, after preliminary estimates showed that full-year 2023 declined 6% from 2022.”
For the full year, an estimated 1,413,000 total housing units were started in 2023, a 9% decrease compared with the 2022 figure of 1,552,600.
“Builders are decisively switching their docs from apartments to single-family houses. They broke ground on 69,900 houses in December, compared to 61,100 in the previous December,” says Holden Lewis, home and mortgage expert for NerdWallet. “On the rental side of the equation, builders are wrapping up a boom in apartment construction. Almost a million apartment units were under construction in December, and most of them will be completed and put up for rent this year, but there will be a drop-off in permits issued for new apartment buildings.
Privately owned housing units authorized by building permits in December ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,495,000, a 1.9% increase from November levels and 6.1% above December 2022 levels. Single-family permit authorizations ran at a rate of 994,000 in December, 1.7% above the revised November figure of 977,000. Authorizations for units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 449,000 in December.
For the full year, an estimated 1,469,800 units were authorized by building permits, 11.7% below the 2022 figure.
Privately owned completions in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,574,000, an 8.7% increase on a month-over-month basis and a 13.2% increase on a year-over-year basis. For the full year, an estimated 1,452,500 units were completed, 4.5% above the 2022 figure.
Single-family completions ran at a rate of 1,056,000 in December, 8.4% above the revised November rate. The December rate of completions for units in buildings with five units or more was 509,000.
