Building Permits

Building permits count the number of new privately owned housing units authorized for construction by local government permitting offices in a given month, published monthly by the US Census Bureau alongside housing starts from the same statistical program. Because a permit is typically issued before ground is broken, the building permits figure leads housing starts by roughly one to two months, making it one of the components of the Conference Board's Leading Economic Index and a standard forward-looking gauge of the near-term direction of residential construction activity. The Census Bureau's New Residential Construction program tracks each unit through several distinct stages, from units authorized by permit, through units authorized but not yet started, to units started, under construction, and completed, so the gap between the authorized and started counts is itself watched as a measure of builder follow-through on issued permits.