Having endured a very challenging U.S. housing market for several years, construction industry professionals got some excellent news on Dec. 19. 

The U.S. Commerce Department’s latest monthly New Residential Construction Report showed that single-family housing starts surged 18.0% vs. October’s revised rate and soared 42.2% year-over-year. It was the largest single-month gain for single-family housing starts since May 2022. Single-family homebuilding grew substantially in the Northeast, Midwest and the densely populated South. It declined in the West.

The jump in single-family housing starts, which accounts for the bulk of homebuilding, comes as the rate on U.S. 30-year fixed mortgages averaged 6.95% for the week of Dec. 11 — its lowest level since August, according to Freddie Mac data. It has consistently fallen from a 23-year high of 7.79% in late October.

Overall, privately-owned housing starts jumped 14.8% in November vs. October, and 14.6% year-over-year. 

Meanwhile, the report also showed that permits for future construction of single-family housing units increased 0.7% in November vs. October to its highest rate since April 2022. Overall, November’s privately-owned housing building permits were down 2.5% from October’s revised rate, but up 4.1% year-over-year.

As for completed projects, single-family housing completions in November were down 3.2% from October’s revised rate, while total privately-owned housing completions were up 5.0% month-to-month and down 6.2% year-over-year.

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