Building permits, housing starts and housing completions in 2014 were all higher than in 2013, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Permits for privately owned housing units in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.03 million, 1.9 percent below the November rate of 1.05 million and 1 percent higher than December 2013.
Single-family permits in December were at a rate of 667,000. This is 4.5 percent higher than November’s 638,000.
Overall, 1.0329 million units were authorized in 2014, compared with 990,800 in 2013, a 4.2 percent year-over-year increase.
Housing starts in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.08 million. That is 4.4 percent higher than November’s 1.04 million and 5.3 percent higher than December 2013’s rate of 1.03 million.
Single-family housing starts in December 2014 increased 6.3 percent over the previous month’s rate to 728,000.
"With overall starts ending the year above 1 million units for the first time since 2007, we expect this momentum to carry forward in 2015," said National Association of Home Builders Chief Economist David Crowe in a statement. "A growing labor market and strengthening economy will spur steady growth in single-family housing production in the year ahead."
The Census estimated that 1.005 million housing units were started in 2014. This represents an 8.8 percent increase from 2013’s total of 924,900.
December 2014’s seasonally adjusted rate of privately owned housing completions was 927,000, which is a 6.3 percent increase on the November rate of 872,000 and a 19.6 percent increase year-over-year.
The total number of housing units completed in 2014 was 883,000. This is a 15.5 percent rise from the 2013 figure of 764,000.
