New home construction slowed at the end of 2023

By Anna Bahney, CNN

Washington, DC (CNN) — The annual pace of new home construction pulled back last month after soaring in November, despite a historic shortage of housing inventory and falling mortgage rates.

Housing starts came down by 4.3% in December compared to the previous month, according to data released Thursday by the Census Bureau.

Starts fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.46 million units last month, dropping from November’s pace of 1.56 million.

Still, home building has improved from a year ago, with housing starts up 7.6% from the rate of 1.357 million units in December 2022.

In other good news for expanding the inventory of homes, building permits ticked up in December, climbing 1.9% from November’s revised number to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.467 million.

Permits were 6.1% higher than a year ago.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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