by The good news is that activity in all 3 major areas was up compared with November, suggesting a seasonal rebound in some parts of the US
WASHINGTON — The latest home construction activity for the month of December 2025 suggests perhaps more than the typical winter doldrums affecting the housing sector, and it could be troubling for the residential furniture industry.
All major areas of activity — building permits, housing starts and housing completions — were down compared to the same period the prior year.
The good news is that they were all up from November, suggesting an atypical winter seasonal bump in activity that we hope continues into the coming months.
Here is a quick breakdown of the December numbers. Building permits totaled 1,448,000, down 2.2% from December 2024 and 4.3% above November. Of these, 881,000, or 60.8%, were for single-family homes, 1.7% below the revised November figure of 896,000.
December housing starts totaled 1,404,000, 7.3% below December 2024 and 6.2% above November. Of these, 981,000, or 70% were for single-family homes, up 4.1% from November.
Housing completions totaled 1,525,000, down .1% from December 2024 and up 2.3% from November. Of these, 1,023,000, or 61.1%, were for single-family homes, down .1% from November.
The month-over-month increase in home completions could suggest an increase in furniture purchases in December for those who were ready to move into those properties.
As it takes several months or more to complete a home, we may not see any resulting furniture-related spending from permits or housing starts until the late spring or early summer.
By region, the activity was as follows:
In the Northeast, building permits were up 17.4% from December 2024 and up 44.4% from November. Housing starts were up 2.7% from December and up 5.6% from November. Housing completions were up 56.1% from December 2024 and up 57.3% from November.
In the Midwest, building permits were down 5% from December 2024 and were up 6.6% from November. Housing starts were down 13.2% from December 2024 and up 2.3% from November. Housing completions were up 8.4% from December 2024 and up 24.4% from November.
In the South, building permits were down 10.9% from December 2024 and were down 4.1% from November. Housing starts were down 16.1% from December 2024 and down 2.8% from November. Housing completions were up 4.2% from December 2024 and down 5.9% from November.
In the West, building permits were up 13.5% from December 2024 and up 8% from November. Housing starts were up 19.7% from December 2024 and up 37.4% from November. Housing completions were down 29.1% from December 2024 and down 9.8% from November.
The South had the largest amount of building activity of the four regions surveyed, with 716,000 building permits issued in December, followed by the West at 353,000, the Midwest at 210,000 and the Northeast at 169,000.
In the South, housing starts totaled 741,000, followed by the West at 334,000, the Midwest at 177,000 and the Northeast at 152,000.
The South also had the highest number of building completions at 795,000, followed by the West at 305,000, the Midwest at 219,000 and the Northeast at 206,000.
Thus retailers have a window into the level of building activity across the nation and by region. Those wanting to capitalize on housing activity in their own regions would also benefit by closely following construction trends and existing home sales in their own backyards. Marketing to those new homeowners will undoubtedly bring traffic through the door at a critical juncture in their adult years.
