how the housing starts data is gathered
the census bureau estimates housing starts from a representative sample of building permits issued by a sample of local permitting offices then tracks those projects through completion and sale 4the survey counts all housing starts with five or more units but samples only about 2 of nationwide starts for housing with one to four units 5to account for sampling error among others the monthly report provides error margins representing 90 confidence intervals for month to month and year over year changes for example the initially reported 1 7 decline in single family housing starts in march 2022 from the prior month had 90 confidence interval or error margin of plus or minus 12 3 while the 4 4 decline for the same category from a year earlier had an error margin of 8 3 6the bottom linehousing is a key sector of the u s economy and the monthly housing starts report is a closely watched measure of its health the month to month numbers are volatile and subject to large error margins so it takes months of data to establish the underlying trend mortgage lending discrimination is illegal if you think you ve been discriminated against based on race religion sex marital status use of public assistance national origin disability or age there are steps you can take one such step is to file a report to the consumer financial protection bureau or with the u s department of housing and urban development hud 