Fed-Fueled Housing Recovery Loses Some Steam

The United States Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development released residential construction statistics for November, providing some more evidence of a seasonal slowdown in a generally healthy housing recovery.

The good news is that authorizations for privately-owned housing units edged up. The seasonally-adjusted rate in November was 899,000, a 3.6 percent month-over-month increase, and a 26.8 percent year-over-year increase. Single-family authorizations grew just 0.2 percent month over month, to a rate of 565,000.

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The less-than-good news is that privately owned housing starts in November dropped 3 percent month over month to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 861,000, but still grew 21.6 percent year over year. Single-family housing starts dropped 4.1 percent to 565,000 for the month. Once again, this is in line with the general story of strong year-over-year gains being weighed down by a decline in month-over-month growth as the market enters a typically slow selling season…