The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly announced the following new residential construction statistics for October 2024:
Building Permits
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,416,000. This is 0.6 percent below the revised September rate of 1,425,000 and is 7.7 percent below the October 2023 rate of 1,534,000. Single-family authorizations in October were at a rate of 968,000; this is 0.5 percent above the revised September figure of 963,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 393,000 in October.
Housing Starts
Privately-owned housing starts in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,311,000. This is 3.1 percent (±11.6 percent)* below the revised September estimate of 1,353,000 and is 4.0 percent (±9.0 percent)* below the October 2023 rate of 1,365,000. Single-family housing starts in October were at a rate of 970,000; this is 6.9 percent (±11.7 percent)* below the revised September figure of 1,042,000. The October rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 326,000.
Housing Completions
Privately-owned housing completions in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,614,000. This is 4.4 percent (±12.7 percent)* below the revised September estimate of 1,688,000, but is 16.8 percent (±13.0 percent) above the October 2023 rate of 1,382,000. Single-family housing completions in October were at a rate of 986,000; this is 1.4 percent (±11.7 percent)* below the revised September rate of 1,000,000. The October rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 615,000.
The November report is scheduled for release on December 18, 2024. View the full schedule in the Economic Briefing Room: <www.census.gov/economic-indicators/>. The full text and tables for this release can be found at <www.census.gov/construction/nrc/>.
Notice of methodology change: With the January New Residential Construction release on February 19, 2025, the Building Permits survey will make modifications to the methodology for imputation. The current process calculates imputation factors by region and the new process will calculate factors at a mix of division and large individual states. For additional details on this change, see our imputation section of our methodology page
Source: U.S. Census Bureau