theMReport.com Your trusted source for mortgage banking news
New construction starts in December climbed 12 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $733.3 billion, bouncing back from November’s 12 percent decline, according to a report on new construction for December 2017 by Dodge Data & Analytics. December’s gain for total construction reflected varied improvement by each of the three main construction sectors—nonbuilding construction, residential building, and nonresidential building.
According to the report, residential building in December rose 1 percent to $308.1 billion. The single family side of the housing market rose 1 percent, continuing its trend of improvement see during the second half of 2017. The report also indicated that multifamily housing in December remained unchanged from its November pace.
“Residential building in 2017 showed more growth for single family housing, offsetting a downturn for multifamily housing,” said Robert A. Murray, Chief Economist at Dodge Data & Analytics.
For the whole year, residential building showed a growth of 2 percent against a 9 percent increase in 2016, the report said. Single family housing maintained its upward track, rising 8 percent which matched its rate of growth in dollar terms for 2016.
The South Atlantic region reflected the most growth with single family housing construction rising 12 percent in this region. South Atlantic was followed by the South Central region and West, with both these regions recording a growth of 8 percent each respectively. The Midwest, showed a growth of 5 percent during the year. The Northeast was the only region that showed a decline in single family construction with building activity down 2 percent.
On the other hand, the report indicated, multifamily housing fell 12 percent in 2017 after seven straight years of expansion. While New York, the country’s leading multifamily market registered a decline of 4 percent in 2017, seven of the nine remaining metropolitan markets in the top ten showed weaker activity with only San Francisco, California and Atlanta, Georgia, reporting gains.
