January Housing Starts Slow From Record Pace - 2/23/2004 - Mortgage Loan Refinance Debt Equity

January Housing Starts Slow From Record Pace

That was 7.9% below a revised 2.06-million-unit annual pace in December, but 4.1% above the rate a year earlier and 12% over the 1.848 million units started in 2003, which was the highest in 26 years.

“Builders have just finished an incredibly strong year and we are starting 2004 at a pace that will keep us on track to match 2003’s production,” said NAHB President Bobby Rayburn.

Single-family starts dipped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.537 million units in January, which was 8% below the revised December rate and 1.9% above the pace a year earlier.

“The favorable interest rate structure, solid house price performance and improving economic indicators continue to drive the housing market,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders. “Although the January rate was lower than in the final months of 2003, it was still exceptionally high.”

The pace of multifamily housing starts decreased 3.6% from December to a seasonally adjusted rate of 339,000 units. That was 21.9% above the pace of a year earlier.

Construction of new homes and apartments slowed in all regions in January. The Northeast and Midwest, where unusually bad weather had some effect, declined 14% and 21%, respectively. Residential construction was down 5.2% in the South and 1% in the West.