The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have now published their findings for May new residential housing starts.
The latest reading of 1.036M was well above the Investing.com forecast of 1.100M.
Here is the opening of this morning’s monthly report:
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,275,000. This is 11.8 percent (±1.8%) above the revised April rate of 1,140,000 and is 25.4 percent (±2.1%) above the May 2014 estimate of 1,017,000.
Single-family authorizations in May were at a rate of 683,000; this is 2.6 percent (±1.2%) above the revised April figure of 666,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 557,000 in May. [link to report]
Here is the historical series for total privately-owned housing starts, which dates from 1959. Because of the extreme volatility of the monthly data points, a 6-month moving average has been included.
The Population-Adjusted Reality
Here is the data with a simple population adjustment. The Census Bureau’s mid-month population estimates show substantial growth in the US population since 1959. Here is a chart of housing starts as a percent of the population.
A Footnote on Volatility
The extreme volatility of this monthly indicator is the rationale for paying more attention to its 6-month moving average than to its noisy monthly change. Over the complete data series, the absolute MoM average percent change is 4.4%. The MoM range minimum is -24.0% and the maximum is 33.9%.
For visual confirmation of the volatility, here is a snapshot of the monthly percent change since 1990.
