HOUSING STARTS AND BUILDING PERMITS IN MARCH 2000
PRIVATELY OWNED HOUSING STARTS
Privately owned housing starts in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual
rate of 1,604,000, according to estimates reported today by the U.S.
Commerce Department's Bureau of the Census. This is 11 (+/-6) percent below the
revised February rate of 1,807,000 and 8 (+/-7) percent below the March
1999 rate of 1,737,000.
Single-family housing starts in March 2000 were at a rate of 1,309,000; this
is virtually unchanged (+/-6 percent) from the February figure of 1,307,000.
The March rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 272,000;
this is 41 percent below the February estimate of 460,000. The March rate
for units in buildings with two to four units was 23,000.
During the first 3 months of this year, 361,000 housing units were started
compared with 369,500 units for the same period in 1999. This is a decrease
of 2 (+/-4) percent.
BUILDING PERMITS
The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing units authorized by building
permits in March was 1,579,000. This is 4 (+/-1) percent below the revised
February rate of 1,653,000 and 5 (+/-1) percent below the March 1999 estimate of
1,654,000.
Single-family authorizations in March 2000 were at a rate of 1,220,000; this
is virtually unchanged (+/-1 percent) from the February figure of 1,223,000.
Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of
296,000 in March; this is 18 percent below the February estimate of 362,000.
The March rate of permit-authorized units in buildings with two to four units
was 63,000.
During the first 3 months of this year, 363,200 housing units were authorized
compared with 373,700 units for the same period in 1999. This is a decrease
of 3 (+/-1) percent.
The next press release is scheduled to be issued on Tuesday, May 16, 2000, at
8:30 A.M. EDT.
EXPLANATORY NOTES
In interpreting changes in the statistics in this release, note that month-to-
month changes in seasonally adjusted statistics often show movements which
may be irregular. It may take 5 months to establish an underlying trend for
total starts and 3 months for building permit authorizations.
The statistics in this release are estimated from sample surveys and are
subject to sampling variability as well as nonsampling error including bias and
variance from response, nonreporting, and undercoverage. Estimated average
relative standard errors of preliminary data are shown in the tables.
Whenever a statement such as "2 (+/-3) percent above" appears in the text, this
indicates the range (-1 to +5 percent) in which the actual percent change
is likely to have occurred. All ranges given for percent changes are 90-
percent confidence intervals and account only for sampling variability. If a
range contains zero, it is uncertain whether there was an increase or decrease; that
is, the change is not statistically significant. For any comparison cited
without a confidence interval, the change is statistically significant. The January
2000 Current Construction Reports, C20/2000-1, includes explanations of
confidence intervals and sampling variability. On average, the preliminary
seasonally adjusted estimates of total housing starts and building permits are
revised about +/-1 percent.
Table 1. New Privately Owned Housing Units Started
(Thousands of units. Detail may not add to total because of rounding.)
In structures with --
Period Total North- Midwest South West
3 and 4 5 units east
1 unit 2 units units or more
1a. Seasonally adjusted annual rate
1999 - March 1737 1377 33 327 159 378 810 390
April 1561 1248 31 282 135 337 684 405
May 1649 1368 26 255 152 352 734 411
June 1562 1269 29 264 158 355 697 352
July 1704 1348 40 316 171 320 768 445
August 1657 1285 31 341 171 337 762 387
September 1628 1290 38 300 135 365 740 388
October 1636 1343 26 267 129 371 764 372
November 1663 1344 25 294 150 389 709 415
December 1769 1441 30 298 159 407 807 396
2000 - January (r) 1744 1361 32 351 153 381 821 389
February (r) 1807 1307 40 460 194 470 746 397
March (p) 1604 1309 23 272 159 320 746 379
Average RSE (%) 3 3 9 9 7 6 4 4
1b. Not seasonally adjusted
1998 1616.9 1271.4 15.7 26.9 302.9 148.5 330.5 743.0 394.9
1999 1666.5 1334.9 13.4 18.5 299.7 153.7 356.4 760.3 396.1
Average RSE (%) 1 1 7 11 3 3 2 1 1
1999 First 3 months 369.5 294.1 2.8 4.2 68.4 29.6 59.2 192.5 88.2
2000 First 3 months 361.0 283.0 3.2 2.9 72.0 30.5 63.6 179.0 88.0
Average RSE (%) 2 1 8 18 8 13 4 2 2
1999 - March 149.3 122.9 1.4 1.4 23.6 12.1 29.2 73.1 34.9
April 146.5 118.8 1.8 1.2 24.8 12.1 32.6 64.9 36.9
May 155.6 130.4 1.1 1.1 23.0 14.7 35.7 66.9 38.3
June 152.4 127.9 1.2 1.8 21.5 16.0 38.1 63.9 34.4
July 155.2 123.4 1.2 2.6 28.0 17.3 31.3 66.6 39.9
August 155.0 119.7 1.2 1.6 32.5 16.5 33.5 68.0 37.0
September 143.3 112.5 0.9 2.6 27.4 12.3 34.5 62.8 33.7
October 145.4 115.8 1.4 1.1 27.0 12.3 37.5 64.9 30.7
November 127.9 102.1 0.9 1.2 23.7 12.5 30.0 54.5 30.9
December 115.7 90.2 0.9 1.2 23.4 10.6 23.8 55.1 26.1
2000 - January (r) 105.2 80.5 1.0 0.7 23.0 8.1 15.9 55.4 25.8
February (r) 121.6 89.5 1.0 1.5 29.6 10.2 23.0 58.2 30.2
March (p) 134.2 112.9 1.3 0.6 19.3 12.1 24.6 65.3 32.1
Average RSE (%) 3 3 11 13 9 7 6 4 4
(p) Preliminary. (r) Revised. (X) Not applicable.
(Z) Less than 50 units or less than 0.5 percent.
Average relative standard error (Avg. RSE): Annual -- Avg. RSE for the last 2 years;
Year to Date -- Avg. RSE for the current period and the same period last year;
Monthly -- Avg. RSE for the latest 6 month period (January-June or July-December).
Table 2. Privately Owned Housing Units Authorized by Building Permits
(Thousands of units. Detail may not add to total because of rounding.)
In structures with --
Period Total North- Midwest South West
3 and 4 5 units east
1 unit 2 units units or more
2a. Seasonally adjusted annual rate (19,000 permit-issuing places)
1999 - March 1654 1242 69 343 163 356 744 391
April 1572 1214 67 291 162 338 692 380
May 1591 1243 59 289 155 338 692 406
June 1641 1241 64 336 167 330 736 408
July 1641 1247 63 331 157 323 761 400
August 1619 1210 66 343 157 333 746 383
September 1506 1171 63 272 147 333 664 362
October 1594 1178 62 354 142 328 751 373
November 1612 1200 68 344 161 352 720 379
December 1622 1228 70 324 166 327 732 397
2000 - January 1772 1318 65 389 191 379 759 443
February (r) 1653 1223 68 362 159 354 729 411
March (p) 1579 1220 63 296 164 359 663 393
Average RSE (%) (Z) 1 4 1 1 1 1 1
2b. Not seasonally adjusted (19,000 permit-issuing places)
1998 1612.3 1187.6 33.2 36.0 355.5 159.4 327.2 724.5 401.2
1999 1640.2 1231.8 32.0 34.4 342.0 161.5 337.0 745.5 396.2
Average RSE (%) (Z) (Z) 2 3 (Z) 1 1 (Z) 1
1999 First 3 months 373.7 279.3 7.3 7.7 79.4 32.7 63.3 186.5 91.2
2000 First 3 months 363.2 276.4 7.0 6.8 73.1 33.5 68.1 168.9 92.7
Average RSE (%) (Z) (Z) 2 4 (Z) 2 1 1 1
1999 - March 152.1 117.7 2.9 3.1 28.4 14.0 31.5 69.8 36.7
April 149.1 118.3 2.9 3.3 24.6 15.1 33.7 65.8 34.6
May 141.7 114.1 2.7 2.3 22.6 14.2 32.8 59.3 35.3
June 165.6 125.7 3.4 3.2 33.2 18.0 33.6 71.0 43.0
July 145.5 112.4 2.5 2.7 27.8 14.6 29.5 65.5 35.9
August 147.4 110.3 2.6 3.3 31.2 14.9 32.2 66.7 33.6
September 133.0 100.9 3.1 2.6 26.4 12.9 31.0 56.7 32.4
October 133.1 95.4 2.7 3.0 32.0 12.3 30.0 60.6 30.2
November 121.1 88.2 2.5 3.1 27.3 13.1 28.0 53.1 27.0
December 117.1 82.8 2.3 2.9 29.1 11.8 21.0 54.5 29.8
2000 - January 104.8 76.7 1.8 1.8 24.6 10.5 16.4 50.4 27.6
February (r) 115.1 85.9 2.5 2.2 24.5 9.1 20.4 56.5 29.1
March (p) 143.9 114.1 2.8 2.8 24.3 13.8 31.4 62.7 36.0
Average RSE (%) (Z) 1 3 4 1 1 1 1 1
2c. Not started at end of period - not seasonally adjusted (19,000 permit-issuing places)
1999 -March 141.5 84.0 3.2 54.4 17.5 22.6 72.4 29.0
2000 -January (r) 137.3 79.3 3.0 55.0 17.3 16.3 75.8 27.9
February (r) 133.0 81.3 3.0 48.7 15.6 14.0 76.5 27.0
March (p) 147.7 91.1 4.0 52.5 16.5 21.7 78.2 31.4
Average RSE (%) 3 4 8 5 13 8 4 6
(p) Preliminary. (r) Revised. (X) Not applicable.
(Z) Less than 50 units or less than 0.5 percent.
Average relative standard error (Avg. RSE): Annual -- Avg. RSE for the last 2 years;
Year to Date -- Avg. RSE for the current period and the same period last year;
Monthly -- Avg. RSE for the latest 6 month period (January-June or July-December).
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