The U.S. Census Bureau and the HUD Department announced the new homes construction stats for September 2008 today. Total building permits were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 786,000 which was 8.3% below August 2008 and was down 38.4% from a year ago. 1 unit permits were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 532,000 which was down 3.8% from the previous month and down 38.9% from a year ago. 1 unit permits are at their lowest annual rate since August 1982. Total housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 817,000 which was down 6.3% from the previous month, and down 31.1% below September 2007. 1 unit starts were at 544,000 which is down 12.0% from August 2008 and down 41.9% from a year ago. Housing completions were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,097,000 (1 units were at 806,000) which was 11.7% above the previous month, and 20.4% below September 2007.
Permits and starts of new homes are starting to be less than demand. Completions are still higher than the current level of sales. Soon months supply will start to inch down, but we are still far away from supply and demand being balanced. New homes are also adversely affected by the large surplus of existing homes.
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