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From The US Department of Housing and Urban Development NEW RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION IN OCTOBER 2009

The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly announced the following new residential
construction statistics for October 2009:

BUILDING PERMITS

Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 552,000.
This is 4.0 percent (±1.9%) below the revised September rate of 575,000 and is 24.3 percent (±1.9%) below the October 2008
estimate of 729,000.

Single-family authorizations in October were at a rate of 451,000; this is 0.2 percent (±1.0%)* below the revised September figure of
452,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 85,000 in October.

HOUSING STARTS

Privately-owned housing starts in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 529,000. This is 10.6 percent (±8.7%) below the revised September estimate of 592,000 and is 30.7 percent (±8.3%) below the October 2008 rate of 763,000.
Single-family housing starts in October were at a rate of 476,000; this is 6.8 percent (±7.5%)* below the revised September figure of
511,000. The October rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 48,000.

HOUSING COMPLETIONS

Privately-owned housing completions in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 740,000. This is 1.9 percent (±12.4%)* above the revised September estimate of 726,000, but is 29.9 percent (±9.7%) below the October 2008 rate of 1,055,000.
Single-family housing completions in October were at a rate of 528,000; this is 10.7 percent (±14.5%)* above the revised September figure of 477,000. The October rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 200,000.

For some graphical context, check out this chart from Calculated Risk:

CR adds:

It is very unlikely that there will be a strong rebound in housing starts with a record number of vacant housing units.

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