Census Bureau

Analysis of Revisions to Monthly Seasonally Adjusted Estimates of New Residential Construction Statistics








Each month the US Census Bureau publishes preliminary estimates of Building Permits, Housing Starts, Housing Completions.  The US Census Bureau releases these estimates to provide government and private data users with early measures of new privately owned residential construction  and new residential sales activity.   A necessary part of the process of issuing these early data involves the issuance of subsequent revisions.  The revisions are primarily the result of the replacement of imputed data with data which are reported in subsequent months.

The "Range" shows the largest decrease (or smallest increase if no months revised down) and largest increase (or smallest decrease if no months revised up) over the 12 months. The "Average" is the arithmetic mean of all 12 months. Ideally, this would be zero if the positive and negative revisions equaled each other. The "Absolute Average" is the arithmetic mean of the absolute value of the revision. This indicates the average size of revision without regard to sign.
 
 
 

New Residential Construction
Series 
Percent changes between estimates - June 2003 - May 2004
First revision versus preliminary 
Final versus preliminary 
Range 
Average 
Absolute Average 
Range 
Average 
Absolute Average 
From 
To 
From 
To 
                 
 
Building Permits (1)
                 
U.S. total -0.6
 1.7
 0.8
 0.9
        
In structures with - 



       
    1 unit  -0.1
 2.4
 0.9
 0.9
        
    2 to 4 unit  -6.7
 7.7
 -0.7
 3.0
        
    5 units or more  -3.2
 3.5
 0.9
 1.9
        
 



       
Northeast -2.4
 5.0
 0.5
 1.5
        
Midwest -1.1
 2.4
 0.5
 1.0
        
South  -0.6
 3.2
 1.3
 1.4
        
West -0.8
 4.8
 0.5
 1.1
        
 



       
 
Housing Starts
                 
U.S. total -1.0
 2.3
 0.7
 1.0
 -1.3
 2.3
 0.7
 1.2
In structures with - 







    1 unit  -1.2
 2.1
 0.8
 1.0
 -1.3
 2.5
 1.0
 1.4
    5 units or more  -7.1
 4.2
 0.6
 2.8
 -9.0
 5.6
 -0.5
 2.7
 







Northeast -4.4
 9.0
 1.5
 3.5
 -6.4
 6.3
 1.2
 4.0
Midwest -2.1
 3.2
 0.1
 1.5
 -3.4
 5.4
 0.4
 1.9
South  -0.4
 3.8
 1.4
 1.4
 -1.7
 6.1
 1.1
 1.6
West -5.5
 3.7
 -0.2
 2.2
 -5.7
 4.6
 0.4
 2.3
 







 
Housing Completions
                 
U.S. total -0.1
 2.3
 0.7
 0.7
 -0.6
 1.9
 0.4
 0.7
In structures with - 







    1 unit  -1.0
 2.3
 0.7
 1.0
 -1.0
 2.0
 0.4
 0.8
    5 units or more  -6.1
 3.9
 0.3
 2.1
 -7.4
 5.1
 0.3
 3.1
 







Northeast -3.7
 13.5
 0.4
 2.8
 -4.3
 12.0
 0.2
 3.0
Midwest -3.1
 4.6
 0.8
 2.0
 -1.8
 4.3
 0.8
 1.6
South  -1.9
 2.5
 0.0
 1.4
 -3.1
 2.4
 -0.6
 1.3
West -1.1
 5.3
 2.0
 2.2
 -1.3
 6.2
 2.0
 2.3
                 
(1) For the building permit series, the first revision is the final estimate.