what are housing starts 
the term housing starts refers to the start of construction on a new residential housing unit because new housing is a big ticket capital good that spurs additional consumer spending on appliances and furniture it is a key economic indicator closely watched by financial markets participants the u s census bureau publishes estimates of u s housing starts on the 12th business day of each month based on a survey of homebuilders partially funded by the u s department of housing and urban development 1 the new residential construction report also includes housing completions data as well as a count of building permits derived from a separate survey of building permit offices understanding housing startshousing is a key sector of the u s economy and a crucial one for the banking construction and real estate industries the health of the housing sector is also an important factor in employment as well as the price of commodities including lumber and copper housing starts measure builders willingness to expend resources on new projects which in turn depends on their estimates of housing demand so the trend in starts can also offer insights into risk appetite and consumer sentiment because housing starts in parts of the u s are subject to big seasonal variations the headline number in the monthly report is a seasonally adjusted annual rate which adjusts the monthly total based on that seasonal factor and then calculates the annual starts rate at that pace short term weather disruptions such as storms or cold snaps can also have an effect on this volatile data series the census bureau notes month to month changes in seasonally adjusted data can be irregular and estimates it takes six months to establish the underlying rate for housing starts 2the report breaks out the national housing starts data by four u s regions northeast midwest south and west 