WASHINGTON - December housing starts dropped 4.3% to 529,000 as building permits jumped 16.7% to 635,000 – though the figure may have been skewed by changes in some states’ building codes, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
The jump in the December building permits figure “may be related to changes to state building codes for new residential construction effective in January 2011 in California, Pennsylvania and New York,” the Commerce Department said.
November building permits were revised higher to 544,000 from 530,000, and housing starts were revised to 553,000 from 555,000.
Economists expected 550,000 housing starts and 560,000 building permits, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
For all of 2010, housing starts totaled 587,600 at an annual rate, up from 554,000 in 2009. There were more than 2 million housing starts in 2005 during the height of the real estate boom.
Building permits in 2010 totaled 598,200, up from 583,000 in 2009.
