Housing starts increased 11.8% in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.68 million, the U.S. Census Bureau reported.
Compared with November 2020, housing starts increased 8.3%. Single family housing starts grew 11.3% from October, and multifamily homes jumped 12.9%.
“Despite some cooling earlier this year, the continued strength of single-family construction in 2021 means there are now 28% more single-family homes under construction than a year ago,” stated Robert Dietz, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders “These gains mean single-family completions will increase in 2022, bringing more inventory to market despite a 19% year-over-year rise in construction material costs and longer construction times."
Regionally, housing starts increased 27.5% in the Northeast, 18.4% in the South and 5.1% in the West. Housing starts declined in the Midwest by 7.3%.
Building permits increased 3.6% month-over-month and 0.9% year-over-year.
