For Release 8:30 A.M. EDT, Tuesday, May 16, 2000 CB00-82 HOUSING STARTS AND BUILDING PERMITS IN APRIL 2000 PRIVATELY OWNED HOUSING STARTS Privately owned housing starts in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,663,000, according to estimates reported today by the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of the Census. This is 3 (+/-6) percent above the revised March rate of 1,618,000 and 7 (+/-7) percent above the April 1999 rate of 1,561,000. Single-family housing starts in April 2000 were at a rate of 1,329,000; this is virtually unchanged (+/-6 percent) from the March figure of 1,325,000. The April rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 307,000. The April rate for units in buildings with two to four units was 27,000. During the first 4 months of this year, 515,400 housing units were started. This is virtually unchanged (+/-3 percent) from the 516,100 units started in the same period in 1999. BUILDING PERMITS The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing units authorized by building permits in April was 1,574,000. This is 1 (+/-1) percent below the revised March rate of 1,597,000 and 1 (+/-1) percent below the revised April 1999 estimate of 1,595,000. Single-family authorizations in April 2000 were at a rate of 1,160,000; this is 6 (+/-1) percent below from the March figure of 1,238,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 352,000 in April; this is 21 percent above the March estimate of 291,000. The April rate of permit-authorized units in buildings with two to four units was 62,000. During the first 4 months of this year, 504,800 housing units were authorized compared with 526,800 units for the same period in 1999. This is a decrease of 4 (+/-1) percent. The next press release is scheduled to be issued on Friday, June 16, 2000, at 8:30 A.M. EDT. EXPLANATORY NOTES In interpreting changes in the statistics in this release, note that month-to- month changes in seasonally adjusted statistics often show movements which may be irregular. It may take 5 months to establish an underlying trend for total starts and 3 months for building permit authorizations. The statistics in this release are estimated from sample surveys and are subject to sampling variability as well as nonsampling error including bias and variance from response, nonreporting, and undercoverage. Estimated average relative standard errors of preliminary data are shown in the tables. Whenever a statement such as "2 (+/-3) percent above" appears in the text, this indicates the range (-1 to +5 percent) in which the actual percent change is likely to have occurred. All ranges given for percent changes are 90- percent confidence intervals and account only for sampling variability. If a range contains zero, it is uncertain whether there was an increase or decrease; that is, the change is not statistically significant. For any comparison cited without a confidence interval, the change is statistically significant. The January 2000 Current Construction Reports, C20/00-1, includes explanations of confidence intervals and sampling variability. On average, the preliminary seasonally adjusted estimates of total housing starts and building permits are revised about +/-1 percent. Seasonally adjusted statistics for building permits, January 1998 through March 2000, and unadjusted statistics for January through December 1999 have been revised. These revisions will appear in the April 2000 Current Construction Reports, C20/00-04. Table 1. New Privately Owned Housing Units Started (Thousands of units. Detail may not add to total because of rounding.) In structures with -- Period Total North- Midwest South West 3 and 4 5 units east 1 unit 2 units units or more 1a. Seasonally adjusted annual rate 1999 - April 1561 1248 31 282 135 337 684 405 May 1649 1368 26 255 152 352 734 411 June 1562 1269 29 264 158 355 697 352 July 1704 1348 40 316 171 320 768 445 August 1657 1285 31 341 171 337 762 387 September 1628 1290 38 300 135 365 740 388 October 1636 1343 26 267 129 371 764 372 November 1663 1344 25 294 150 389 709 415 December 1769 1441 30 298 159 407 807 396 2000 - January 1744 1361 32 351 153 381 821 389 February (r) 1822 1324 40 458 189 471 748 414 March (r) 1618 1325 17 276 158 331 761 368 April (p) 1663 1329 27 307 142 372 714 435 Average RSE (%) 3 3 9 9 7 6 4 4 1b. Not seasonally adjusted 1998 1616.9 1271.4 15.7 26.9 302.9 148.5 330.5 743.0 394.9 1999 1666.5 1334.9 13.4 18.5 299.7 153.7 356.4 760.3 396.1 Average RSE (%) 1 1 7 11 3 3 2 1 1 1999 First 4 months 516.1 412.9 4.6 5.3 93.2 41.6 91.8 257.5 125.1 2000 First 4 months 515.4 408.1 3.7 4.5 99.0 42.6 99.6 246.5 126.7 Average RSE (%) 1 1 9 17 6 9 4 2 2 1999 - April 146.5 118.8 1.8 1.2 24.8 12.1 32.6 64.9 36.9 May 155.6 130.4 1.1 1.1 23.0 14.7 35.7 66.9 38.3 June 152.4 127.9 1.2 1.8 21.5 16.0 38.1 63.9 34.4 July 155.2 123.4 1.2 2.6 28.0 17.3 31.3 66.6 39.9 August 155.0 119.7 1.2 1.6 32.5 16.5 33.5 68.0 37.0 September 143.3 112.5 0.9 2.6 27.4 12.3 34.5 62.8 33.7 October 145.4 115.8 1.4 1.1 27.0 12.3 37.5 64.9 30.7 November 127.9 102.1 0.9 1.2 23.7 12.5 30.0 54.5 30.9 December 115.7 90.2 0.9 1.2 23.4 10.6 23.8 55.1 26.1 2000 - January 105.2 80.5 1.0 0.7 23.0 8.1 15.9 55.4 25.8 February (r) 122.1 90.2 0.9 1.7 29.4 9.9 22.9 58.1 31.2 March (r) 135.5 114.4 0.8 0.6 19.7 12.1 25.3 66.9 31.2 April (p) 152.6 123.0 1.1 1.5 26.9 12.4 35.5 66.1 38.6 Average RSE (%) 3 3 11 13 9 7 6 4 4 (p) Preliminary. (r) Revised. (X) Not applicable. (Z) Less than 50 units or less than 0.5 percent. Average relative standard error (Avg. RSE): Annual -- Avg. RSE for the last 2 years; Year to Date -- Avg. RSE for the current period and the same period last year; Monthly -- Avg. RSE for the latest 6 month period (January-June or July-December). Table 2. Privately Owned Housing Units Authorized by Building Permits (Thousands of units. Detail may not add to total because of rounding.) In structures with -- Period Total North- Midwest South West 3 and 4 5 units east 1 unit 2 units units or more 2a. Seasonally adjusted annual rate (19,000 permit-issuing places) 1998 (r) January 1555 1158 71 326 173 336 655 391 February 1647 1191 77 379 170 373 703 401 March 1605 1162 71 372 149 316 747 393 April 1547 1157 57 333 140 304 690 413 May 1554 1165 66 323 142 321 723 368 June 1551 1148 73 330 155 314 687 395 July 1610 1181 76 353 158 313 735 404 August 1654 1196 72 386 157 309 790 398 September 1577 1187 68 322 162 319 708 388 October 1719 1217 70 432 174 338 789 418 November 1672 1248 59 365 174 330 717 451 December 1742 1317 75 350 179 408 750 405 1999 (r) January 1745 1269 79 397 167 323 806 449 February 1748 1308 69 371 184 354 809 401 March 1681 1255 65 361 170 354 748 409 April 1595 1223 65 307 165 344 695 391 May 1639 1253 60 326 161 344 716 418 June 1696 1266 63 367 174 340 755 427 July 1673 1263 64 346 161 335 769 408 August 1658 1233 66 359 162 344 760 392 September 1553 1200 65 288 153 343 681 376 October 1636 1204 62 370 145 342 765 384 November 1678 1238 68 372 171 372 742 393 December 1683 1266 68 349 174 347 751 411 2000 - January (r) 1762 1317 65 380 195 378 751 438 February (r) 1661 1223 67 371 162 360 732 407 March (r) 1597 1238 68 291 164 364 679 390 April (p) 1574 1160 62 352 164 346 673 391 Average RSE (%) (Z) 1 4 1 1 1 1 1 2b. Not seasonally adjusted (19,000 permit-issuing places) 1998 1612.3 1187.6 33.2 36.0 355.5 159.4 327.2 724.5 401.2 1999 (r) 1663.5 1246.7 32.5 33.3 351.1 164.9 345.4 748.9 404.3 Average RSE (%) (Z) (Z) 2 3 (Z) 1 1 (Z) 1 1999 First 4 months 526.8 399.6 10.1 10.7 106.4 48.8 98.7 250.6 128.7 2000 First 4 months 504.8 383.2 9.5 9.8 102.3 48.4 101.0 228.7 126.7 Average RSE (%) (Z) (Z) 3 4 (Z) 2 1 1 1 1999 (r) January 105.7 74.2 2.1 2.2 27.1 9.2 13.6 55.3 27.7 February 114.7 86.6 2.2 2.3 23.7 9.7 18.9 58.7 27.4 March 154.6 118.9 3.0 3.0 29.8 14.4 32.0 70.4 37.9 April 151.8 119.9 2.9 3.2 25.9 15.5 34.3 66.2 35.8 May 145.1 115.9 2.7 2.2 24.3 14.7 33.4 60.5 36.5 June 169.3 128.0 3.4 3.1 34.9 18.7 34.5 71.4 44.8 July 149.1 114.6 2.6 2.6 29.2 15.1 30.4 66.3 37.2 August 151.9 112.6 2.7 3.2 33.3 15.5 33.4 68.5 34.4 September 137.3 103.1 3.2 2.6 28.3 13.4 32.2 58.3 33.4 October 137.6 97.6 2.8 3.0 34.2 12.8 31.3 62.3 31.2 November 125.6 90.3 2.6 3.1 29.6 13.6 29.4 55.0 27.6 December 120.9 84.8 2.4 2.8 30.9 12.3 22.1 55.9 30.6 2000 - January 104.8 76.7 1.8 1.8 24.6 10.5 16.4 50.4 27.6 February 115.1 85.9 2.5 2.2 24.5 9.1 20.4 56.5 29.1 March (r) 147.0 116.3 2.7 3.1 24.8 14.1 32.2 64.8 36.0 April (p) 136.2 103.7 2.5 2.6 27.3 14.4 31.9 57.0 33.0 Average RSE (%) (Z) 1 3 4 1 1 1 1 1 2c. Not started at end of period - not seasonally adjusted (19,000 permit-issuing places) 1999 -April 148.3 94.8 2.8 50.7 19.7 25.5 75.5 27.6 2000 -February (r) 132.4 80.2 3.1 49.0 15.9 14.1 76.3 26.1 March (r) 149.7 93.3 3.4 52.9 17.0 22.1 79.7 30.8 April (p) 142.7 88.5 3.5 50.7 18.9 22 75.9 25.9 Average RSE (%) 3 4 8 5 13 8 4 6 (p) Preliminary. (r) Revised. (X) Not applicable. (Z) Less than 50 units or less than 0.5 percent. Average relative standard error (Avg. RSE): Annual -- Avg. RSE for the last 2 years; Year to Date -- Avg. RSE for the current period and the same period last year; Monthly -- Avg. RSE for the latest 6 month period (January-June or July-December). Questions regarding these data may be directed to the Manufacturing and Construction Division, Residential Construction Branch, telephone(301)457-1321.