US building permits, housing starts and completions up in November

In the US, November building permits, housing starts and housing completions all up compared to October (+6%, +8.9%, +8.7% respectively)

According to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development new residential construction statistics for November 2009 are as follows:

Building Permits:
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 584,000. This is 6.0 percent (±1.6%) above the revised October rate of 551,000, but is 7.3 percent (±1.8%) below the November 2008 estimate of 630,000.
Of which:
a) Single-family authorizations in November were at a rate of 473,000; this is 5.3 percent (±1.1%) above the revised October figure of 449,000.
b) Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 86,000 in November.

Housing Starts:
Privately-owned housing starts in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 574,000. This is 8.9 percent (±10.2%) above the revised October estimate of 527,000, but is 12.4 percent (±9.1%) below the November 2008 rate of 655,000.
Of which:
a) Single-family housing starts in November were at a rate of 482,000; this is 2.1 percent (±9.2%)* above the revised October figure of 472,000.
b) The November rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 83,000.

Housing Completions:
Privately-owned housing completions in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 810,000. This is 8.7 percent (±13.7%) above the revised October estimate of 745,000, but is 25.3 percent (±10.1%) below the November 2008 rate of 1,084,000.
Of which:
a) Single-family housing completions in November were at a rate of 524,000; this is unchanged (±11.7%) compared with the revised October figure.
b) The November rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 270,000.

Note: New Residential Construction data for December 2009 will be released on Wednesday, January