The US Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly announced the new residential construction statistics for March 2012. Building permits in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 747,000--4.5 percent above the revised February rate of 715,000 and 30.1 percent above the March 2011 estimate of 574,000. Single-family authorizations fell 3.5 percent to 462,000 from February.
Privately-owned housing starts in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 654,000. This is 5.8 percent below the revised February estimate of 694,000, but is 10.3 percent above the March 2011 rate of 593,000. Single-family housing starts in March were at a rate of 462,000; this is 0.2 percent below the revised February figure of 463,000.
Privately-owned housing completions in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 600,000. This is 4.2 percent above the revised February estimate of 576,000 and is 0.5 percent above the March 2011 rate of 597,000. Single-family housing completions in March were at a rate of 440,000; this is 1.4 percent above the revised February rate of 434,000.