This morning the U.S. Census Bureau issued its oft-watched monthly report (click here to see the full report) on housing construction across the nation, and the results showed increases in construction of of single-family houses, but robust declines in apartment construction.
During June, single-family permits rose 0.6 percent to an annualized rate of 624,000, while apartment construction - typically more volatile from month-to-month - fell 21.4 percent to an annualized rate of 287,000.
Single-family starts, which are issued when construction begins, fell 0.8 percent from May to an annualized rate of 591,000, while apartment starts plummeted 26.2 percent to a 245,000 rate. The report showed that for single-family homes, completions were down 1.1 percent nationwide from May, though strong gains were reported in the Midwest, where completions were up 4.5 percent.
The report doesn't provide data at the metro level, but according to a report that we wrote about late last month (here's the link), construction activity in the Twin Cities metro was relatively strong. Builders were issued 496 permits to build 912 units, according to the Builders Association of the Twin Cities, the best June since 2007.
