Statistics for March 2012 compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD show encouraging upswings in private housing building permits, starts, and completions. The 747,000 permits issued in March for privately owned residences reflect the biggest surge—30 percent growth—over the same time period last year. Housing starts also increased dramatically in March 2012 versus March 2011 with a gain of more than 10 percent. When single-family house permits and starts are broken out from overall housing totals, they indicate a slight decline from the previous month, but single-family statistics from 2011 aren’t available for comparison.
According to the report, there were 600,000 construction completions for private residences in March 2012. That number is an improvement of 4.2 percent over February and 0.5 percent over March 2011. Single-family completions, which represent the largest portion of that figure, rose 1.4 percent since February for a total of 440,000. The U.S. Census website provides complete statistics for new residential construction as well as related housing information and resources.
