US housing starts, permits up further in Dec

According to data jointly released by the US Census Bureau and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, privately-owned housing starts in the US increased by 5.8% on the month to 1,669,000 units in December. The figure was also up by 5.2% from 1,587,000 units in December 2019.

Data further showed that single-family housing starts reached 1,338,000 units, with a monthly increase of 12% in December.

Building permits for privately-owned houses rose by 4.5% from 1,635,000 units in November to 1,709,000 units in December. The recent figure indicated a larger increase of 17.3% when compared to the same month of 2019.