By Danushka Nanayakkara-Skillington | NAHB
According to the Census Bureau, over the first eight months of 2017 the total number of permits, which included single-family and multi-family, issued, nationwide on a not seasonally adjusted basis reached 852,825. This is 7.7% ahead of its level over the first eight months of 2016, 791,513.
These data are taken from the Builder Permits Survey (BPS) instead of the Survey of Construction (SOC). The SOC is the source of the monthly New Residential Construction release and it shows that total permits over the first eight months of the year totaled 875,500, 7.5% ahead of its level the same period in 2016, 797,500. However, the SOC does not provide residential construction information at the state and local level. The Census’ BPS does provide permit data at this level of geography. A description of the BPS can be found here, while an overview of the SOC is located here.
