Breaking Down the Housing Numbers

News reports are declaring an uptick in new housing starts. Well, sort of, versus July they are up, versus last year, not even by a long shot.

Here's the latest U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly announced data on new residential construction statistics for July 2009:

BUILDING PERMITS

Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 579,000.

This is 2.7 percent above the revised July rate of 564,000, but is 32.4 percent below the August 2008 estimate of 857,000.

Single-family authorizations in August were at a rate of 462,000; this is 0.2 percent below the revised July figure of 463,000. .

HOUSING STARTS

Privately-owned housing starts in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 598,000. This is 1.5 percent above the revised July estimate of 580,000, but is 29.6 percent below the August 2008 rate of 849,000.

Single-family housing starts in August were at a rate of 479,000; this is 3.0 percent below the revised July figure of 494,000.

HOUSING COMPLETIONS

Privately-owned housing completions in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 760,000. This is 5.5 percent below the revised July estimate of 804,000 and is 25.3 percentbelow the August 2008 rate of 1,018,000.

Single-family housing completions in August were at a rate of 489,000; this is 1.6 percentbelow the revised July figure of 497,000. The August rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 256,000.