Housing construction: results to the end of January 2021
From November 2020 to January 2021, authorized housing units increased 9.6 percent over the previous three months on a seasonally adjusted, working-day basis (SAWB). However, after a steady increase from July through November, authorizations fell back in December 2020 and stabilized in January 2021. Over the past three months as a whole, the number of units authorized remained 10.6 percent below the average for the three months prior to the first containment (December 2019 through February 2020), and 4.2 percent below the average for the previous 12 months.
Over the past three months, housing starts, which have been revised downward since 2018 (see the section on annual revision at the end of the publication), are estimated to be down 11.2 percent from the previous three months, on a seasonally adjusted basis. Over the three months as a whole, housing starts are estimated to be 12.1 percent below the average for the three months prior to the first containment, and 8.9 percent below the average for the previous twelve months.
Over the past twelve months, 377,600 units were authorized for construction, 73,500 fewer than in the previous twelve months (-16.3 percent). At the same time, an estimated 344,900 housing units were started, 44,000 fewer (-11.3 percent) than in the previous twelve months.