The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Tuesday announced that building permits for November dropped 1.5% from October’s adjusted numbers. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.15 million permits was 24.6% below last November’s number and reportedly at its lowest level in 14 years.
Housing starts also slumped in November, coming out just below 1.19 million, a 3.7% drop from October and a 24.2% drop from last November. Those numbers date back to the 1991 recession. Housing completions dropped 4.1% for the month and 28.7% year on year according to the Census Bureau..
These numbers come on the heels of Monday’s poor building confidence report from the National Association of Home Builders— its Housing Market Index has been pegged to it all time low dating back to 1985 for three consecutive months—and numerous efforts by central banks around the globe to inject liquidity into the market.
It appears that the central banks won’t getting any help soon from the housing sector, which remains mired in a slump.
