Housing starts dip in December

Housing starts backed off their impressive surge last month to a 2.5% decline in December, with a surge of activity in the Northeast offset by sharp declines everywhere else in the U.S.

New residential construction came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,149,000 in December, down from the revised November of 1,179,000.

For the full year, there were an estimated 1,111,200 starts, compared to 1,003,300 in all of 2014 -- a 10.8% increase.

Last month's activity was still well above the previous year's rate of 1,080,000 -- a 6.4% year-over-year increase.

For the sluggish single-family market, a rate of 768,000 housing starts in December is 3.3% below November's revised rate of 794,000.

In concordance with the typical winter slowdown, building permit activity suggests more decreases ahead.

Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,232,000, down 3.9% from the revised November rate of 1,282,000. However, this is still up 14.4 percent for the year.

Additionally, there's a silver lining in there for single-family authorizations. December's rate of 740,000 is up 1.8% from November's revised rate of 727,000.

Regionally, starts were up 24.4% in the Northeast in December, but the Midwest, West and South offset the gains.