Methods
To provide nationwide coverage of building activity, a multi-stage stratified random sample procedure was used to select approximately 900 building permit-issuing offices, and a sample of more than 70 land areas not covered by building permits.
Each month, for permit-issuing places, a sample of residential building permits is selected from each of the sampled permit offices. The probability of selecting a permit is proportional to the number of units authorized by the permit. Permits for one-to-four-unit buildings are sampled at an overall rate of 1 in 50. All permits authorizing buildings with 5 or more housing units in the sampled permit offices are selected.
Each month, for areas that do not require building permits, field representatives conduct a road canvass in each of the sampled non-permit land areas to identify the start of new buildings. All new residential buildings found are selected for the survey.
Once a permit or building is selected, a field representative contacts the owner or builder, by telephone or in person, to conduct the interview each month as necessary. Contact continues until the project is either completed or abandoned. If a single-family home is not sold by the time of completion, the project will continue to be followed until the sale occurs. Each month, interviews are required for about half of the buildings currently being followed up.
Each month, housing starts, completions, and sales estimates derived from this survey are adjusted by the total numbers of authorized housing units (obtained from the Building Permits Survey) to develop national and regional estimates. Estimates are adjusted to reflect variations by region and type of construction, and to account for late reports and houses started or sold before a permit has been issued. Reported data are seasonally adjusted. Learn more about
Construction Methodology.
Products
New Residential Construction press releases are issued on or about the 12th working day following the reference month. The reports contain the first available preliminary monthly estimates of the number of housing units started, authorized but not started, under construction, and completed. Revised figures for previous months are also included. Data are shown by type of structure at the national level and by Census Region. Quarterly data on selected characteristics of housing units started and completed are included. All data are placed on the Census website at:
www.census.gov/starts.
New Residential Sales press releases are issued on or about the 17th working day following the reference month. Included are current-month estimates and revisions for previous months, for new houses sold and for sale at the national level and by Census Region, and for average and median sales prices at the national level. More detailed data on sales prices and construction price indexes are included quarterly. Construction price indexes are included monthly and quarterly. All data are placed on the Census website at:
www.census.gov/newhomesales.
Detailed annual data on characteristics of housing units completed and sold, at the national level and by Census Region, are available on the Census website at:
www.census.gov/construction/chars/index.html.