The first chart shows a historical view of the number of new houses permitted by month. Seasonally adjusted, at an annual rate, new housing permits were 513,000 units. This represents a record low reading.
The second chart shows a historical view of new housing starts. Seasonally adjusted, at an annual rate, new housing starts for March 2009 were at 510,000 units. This was the second lowest reading on record (Jan. 2009 was slightly lower at 488,000 units). March new housing starts were down sharply from February by 62,000 units.
The first thing I notice from the above charts is that, historically, housing permits and starts are volatile. The boom and bust of past housing cycles is also apparent. Furthermore, these charts give some historical perspective on the depth of the current housing crisis.
Check in tomorrow for a chart on new housing unit completions. New housing sales data is also released tomorrow, and I will try to to get something out on that too. It will be interesting to see recent data on units completed compared to units sold (given that inventories are already extremely high).
Data Source:
U.S. Census Bureau
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