United States Building Permits

Building permits in the United States fell 1.0 percent from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.337 million in December 2022, the lowest level since May 2020, as high inflation and rising mortgage rates hit demand for new housing, revised data showed. Single-family authorizations declined 6.4 percent to a rate of 731 thousand, the lowest since April 2020, while the volatile multi-segment rose 6.3 percent to 606 thousand. Permits were down in the South (-1.7 percent to 740 thousand), Midwest (-12.1 percent to 175 thousand) and Northeast (-2.5 percent to 115 thousand), but were up in the West (9.3 percent to 307 thousand).