end of header
New Residential Construction
You are here: Census.gov › Business & Industry › Construction › New Residential Construction › Database Footnotes
Related Links
CIDR Database
New Residential Construction Notes
This database may not immediately reflect the data in the most recent New Residential Construction press release. However, all available data are accessible through the New Residential Construction web page, which also has the release schedule.
All data are for privately-owned housing units.
Recent estimates are subject to revision, as shown in the revision schedule for new housing units authorized by building permits and the revision schedule for new residential construction.
Data on new housing unit authorizations are also available by Census Division, State, metropolitan area, county, and permit-issuing place on the Building Permits web page. Estimates of the valuation of construction for new housing units authorized are also available on that page.
Additional historic data on housing starts and completions are on the New Residential Construction web page, including quarterly data for selected characteristics. Additional annual data on characteristics of new housing units are available on the Characteristics of New Housing web page.
Estimates of sampling variability are presented as relative standard errors (RSEs). RSEs are the average of the latest 6-month period. RSEs are not available for data prior to 1999, but should be comparable to those for more recent time periods.
For information on the compilation and reliability of the housing unit authorization estimates, see Building Permits Survey Methodology and relative standard errors for estimates of housing units authorized by building permits. For information on the compilation and reliability of estimates of housing units authorized but not started, started, under construction, and completed, see the Survey of Construction Methodology.
Seasonally adjusted data for Housing Units Authorized But Not Started are now available as a time series.
Time Series/Trend Charts: Create your own customizable time series
Announcements
11/17/22 - Notice of methodology change: Beginning with the January New Residential Construction release on February 16, 2023, the Building Permits survey will change its target universe from the current 2014 basis to an annually updated universe. This change will allow for more accurate and quicker coverage when jurisdictions change from not issuing building permits to issuing them. For additional details on this change and the impact on New Residential Construction, see our 2023 Methodology Change FAQs.
5/02/22 - Final annual estimates for 2021 of housing units authorized by building permits for the U.S. and by Census Region, Census Division, state, metropolitan area, county, and permit-issuing place are now available. Revised monthly estimates for the U.S. and Census Regions for the prior year which have been "benchmarked" to the final annual totals are also released.
FRED Mobile App - Receive the latest updates on the nation's key economic indicators by downloading the FRED App for both Apple and Android devices. FRED, the signature database of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, now incorporates the Census Bureau's 13 economic indicators.
Previous Announcements
Release Schedule
Contact Us
Residential Construction Branch: Email us!
Call us:
(301) 763-5160
[Excel] or the letters [xls] indicate a document is in the Microsoft® Excel® Spreadsheet Format (XLS). To view the file, you will need the Microsoft® Excel® Viewer 
available for free from Microsoft®.
This symbol indicates a link to a non-government web site. Our linking to these sites does not constitute an endorsement of any products, services or the information found on them. Once you link to another site you are subject to the policies of the new site.