Housing Starts Fall, but Permits Surge Higher

Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2010--Housing starts in the U.S. fell unexpectedly in December, while new permits surged higher..

The Commerce Department said starts fell 4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 557,000 units, hampered by a drop in starts for single-family dwellings.

Building permits, however, soared in December.

November's housing starts were revised upwards to 580,000 units from the previously reported 574,000 units.

Groundbreaking activity dropped a record 38.8 percent to an all-time low of 553,000 units for the whole of 2009.

Starts for single-family homes fell 6.9 percent last month to an annual rate of 456,000 units after rising 4.0 percent in November. Groundbreaking for the volatile multifamily segment rose 12.2 percent to a 101,000 unit annual pace, after surging 69.8 percent in November.

New building permits, which give a sense of future home construction, rose 10.9 percent to 653,000 units last month, the highest since October 2008.

That compared to analysts' forecasts for 590,000 units. For the whole of 2009, permits dropped 36.9 percent, the department said.