New Home Sales Weaker Than Expected

Housing starts for the month of November came in slightly weaker than expected this morning (861K vs 871K) and declined slightly from last month's level of 888K.  In the charts below, we show the changes in housing starts going back to 1959 on both an absolute (left side) and year over year basis (right side).  In both sets of charts, recessions are highlighted in gray.  In terms of the breakdown between single and multi family units, single family units (down 24K units) accounted for the bulk of the drop, which is considered a modest negative.  On a year-over-year basis, housing starts rose by 21.6%, but here we saw stronger growth relative to last year in single family units versus multi family units.

Click here for charts of Housing Starts on a regional basis.