Survey of Market Absorption of New Multifamily Units (SOMA)

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The SOMA Table Creator gives you the ability to create customized tables from the Survey of Market Absorption.

To create a table:

1. Select type of estimate: Select the type of estimate to display (Quarterly, Annual, Prior 4 Quarters Estimates).
2. Select the completion years to display: Select the years of data to display in the Table Creator.
3. Select a topic.
4. Select column characteristic: You may select 1 column characteristic. Each table will include the absorption estimates. If none is selected, only the absorption estimates will display.
5. Select type of unit: Options are "Apartments" or "Condominiums and Cooperative Units." If previous selections are limited to one type of unit, this option will be automatically set to the appropriate type of unit.
6. Click Get Table.
7. Optional: Download the table in Excel by clicking on the down arrow on the top-left tool bar.

Seasonally Adjusted Estimates - The construction of new housing units is typically lower during certain times of the year. For example, construction in the Northeast is lowest in December, January, and February when it is curtailed due to weather conditions (cold, snow, etc.). In contrast, new construction tends to rise during the summer.

These seasonal changes in the number of new constructions reflect cyclical weather patterns. These changes make it difficult to determine whether changes from one month to the next are a measurement of normal seasonal patterns or to varying economic conditions.

To adjust for these seasonal changes, a statistical technique called "seasonal adjustment" is used for unfurnished apartments. Seasonal adjustments use the history of the series to identify the seasonal movements and to calculate the size and direction of these movements for unfurnished apartments. A seasonal adjustment factor is then developed and applied to the unfurnished apartment estimates to eliminate the effects of regular seasonal fluctuations on the data. Data for any month may be more meaningfully compared with data from any other month or with an annual average.

The seasonal adjustments were developed using the X-13 ARIMA-SEATS program. For more information on X-13-ARIMA, please refer to the Census Bureau's X-13 website. The seasonal adjustment model is reviewed annually and updated to account for recent changes in seasonal trends.

The seasonally-adjusted estimates spreadsheet is available through the link under "Download Options" in the left column. The spreadsheet will open as an Excel spreadsheet and the percent factor can be applied to the estimates within Table Creator.

Disclaimer:

SOMA Table Creator may not match estimates produced in prior quarterly or annual tables due to the following reasons:

1. Rounding
2. Improved classification of the type of unit
3. Redistributing the number of available units within each cost range