December starts by region
The total housing starts figure for December came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,460,000.
That's down 4.3 percent for the month and up 7.6 percent for the year. But the regional map of total starts, single-family starts and building permits has a wide range of ups and downs.
Here's the map:
At the one extreme is a 52.8 percent decline in single-family starts in the Northeast, compared to December 2022. At the other extreme, single-family building permits increased 55.8. percent compared to the year-ago figure.
The four-region breakdown of the December data shows no fewer than 20 metrics with double-digit swings.
The National Association of Home Builders expressed optimism regarding the numbers released Thursday.
“We’re heading towards a housing renaissance,” NAHB’s President and CEO Jim Tobin told Yahoo Finance. “2024 is shaping up to be that pivot year where we leave the doldrums of kind of the post-Covid slowdown and we really pivot into ... great growth.”
