**MNI 5 THINGS: US Housing Starts Fall In December To 1.078m>

--5 Things We Learned From December New Residential Construction Data

By Harrison Clarke and Shikha Dave

     WASHINGTON (MNI) - The following are the key points from the 

December new residential construction data released Tuesday by the 

Commerce Department: 

     - December housing starts fell by 11.2% to a 1.078 million annual 

rate, below the 1.250 million pace expected by an MNI survey and the 

Bloomberg consensus, following downward revisions to the October and 

November data. After those revisions, the December starts pace was below 

the 1.167 million average in the fourth quarter. 

     - Starts by region broadly declined. Starts were down 13.2% in the 

Midwest, down 6.0% in the South, down 26.3% in the West, and flat in the 

Northeast. 

     - Building permits posted a 0.3% increase to a 1.326 million rate, 

above the 1.289 million rate expected by MNI and the 1.290 rate expected 

by the Bloomberg consensus. Homes permitted but not started rose by 6.9% 

in December.  

     - Single-family housing starts fell by 6.7% in December, while 

multi-family starts fell by 20.4%. Single-family building permits fell 

by 2.2%, but multi-family permits rose by 4.9%. 

     - Homes under construction were up 0.3% in December, but 

completions fell by 2.7% to a 1.097 million pace. 

     ** MNI Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 ** 

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