Housing Starts Jump 16.9% in December

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that privately-owned housing starts in December were at a SAAR of 1,608,000. This is 16.9% above the revised November’s estimate of 1,375,000, and 40.8% above the December 2018 rate of 1,142,000. Single‐family housing starts in December were at a SAAR of 1,055,000; this is 11.2% below the revised November rate of 949,000. Permits are the forward-looking portion of the report and estimated 1,368,000 housing units were authorized by building permits in 2019. This is 3.9% above the 2018 figure of 1,317,900.