Housing construction starts in the Western states, including Washington, rose 8.9 percent in January from the previous month but fell 11.6 percent from January 2009, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported Wednesday.

Excluding apartments and condos, the 13 Western states saw a sharp 21.7 percent year-over-year rise in January 2010 in the start of construction for single-family homes as well as a 5.2 percent rise from December 2009.

Housing construction permits also jumped in the Western states in January, both from the previous month and the prior year.

For the nation as a whole, single-family and multifamily housing starts were up 2.8 percent in January from the previous month, and up 21.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the latest monthly report by the Commerce Department’s U.S. Census Bureau.

Single-family home starts nationwide rose 1.5 percent in January from the previous month and jumped 35.6 percent from the year-ago January.

In the 13 Western states, there were 122,000 privately owned housing units started in January, up from 112,000 in December but down from 138,000 in January 2009.

There were 101,000 single-family home starts in the West in January, up from 96,000 in December 2009 and 83,000 in January 2009, the report said.

As for new housing construction permits in January 2010, the West was up 8.5 percent from the previous month, to 140,000, and up 20.7 percent from January 2010.

Nationwide, new-home permits were down 4.9 percent in January from December, but rose 16.9 percent from 12 months earlier.

Paul Ashworth, senior U.S. economist with Capital Economic Ltd. of Toronto, said the new nationwide numbers send a mixed message.

"U.S. housing starts have at least stabilized, but there is no sign of any meaningful rebound," he said.

"It appears builders fear that sales and prices will drop back once the federal tax credit for home buyers expires in April. The continuing high level of excess capacity in the market for new homes is holding back residential construction as well."

Numbers are seasonally adjusted, and numbers from previous months have been revised from earlier reports based on new data. January 2010 data are preliminary.

The West as defined by the Census Bureau encompasses Washington as well as Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Montana, Utah, Nevada, and Wyoming.

Mark Harden
Puget Sound Business Journal