Table 7. NEW PRIVATELY OWNED HOUSING UNITS AUTHORIZED, BUT NOT STARTED, IN PERMIT-ISSUING PLACES AT END OF PERIOD

Note: These backlog data represent the number of housing units authorized in all months up to and including the last day of the reporting period and not started as of the terminal date without regard to the month of original permit issuance. Cancelled, abandoned, expired, and revoked permits are excluded from the backlog.

NA Not available.

Ppreliminary. "Revised.

Table 9. NEW PRIVATELY OWNED HOUSING UNITS STARTED, BY LOCATION AND TYPE OF STRUCTURE: QUARTERLY, 1971 TO 1976

(In thousands of units. Because of rounding, detail may not add to total)

DEFINITIONS

A housing start consists of the start of construction of a new housing unit, when located within a new building which is intended primarily as a housekeeping residential building designed for nontransient occupancy. Start of construction for private housing units is defined as the beginning of excavation for the foundation of a building; for public housing units it is defined as when the construction contract is awarded. All housing units in a multi-family building are counted as being started when excavation for the building is started. A housing unit is a single room or group of rooms intended for occupancy as separate living quarters by a family, by a group of unrelated persons living together, or by a person living alone. A housekeeping residential building is one consisting primarily of housing units. Housing starts exclude group quarters (such as dormitories and rooming houses) and transient accommodations (such as transient hotels, motels, and tourist courts) and mobile homes (trailers). Publicly owned housing includes housing units in buildings for which construction contracts were awarded by Federal, State or local governments. Units in structures built by private developers for sale upon completion to local public housing authorities under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development "Turnkey" program are classified as private housing.

The standard census geographic regions are used in the tables of this report. States contained in each region are as follows: Northeast-Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; North Central-Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas; South-Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas; West-Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska, and Hawaii.

The distribution of housing starts between units inside and units outside Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSA's) is based on the definitions published by the Office of Management and Budget in Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas. Data for the period beginning January 1976 are based on the 1974 definitions as amended August 1975; data for the period January 1975-December 1975 are based on the 1967 definitions, as amended April 1974; data for the period January 1974-December 1974 are based on the 1967 definitions, as amended November 1973; data for April 1973-December 1973 are based on the 1967 definitions as amended February 1973; data for April 1968-March 1973 are based on 1967 definitions.

HOUSING STARTS COMPILATION

Compilation of the housing starts series depends on four steps. First, an estimate is made of the number of housing units for which building permits have been issued in all 14,000 permit-issuing places each month. Second, a survey is made each month in a sample of permit places. In each place, a sample of building permits is selected each month and an inquiry is made of the owner or the builder to find out whether and when the units covered by the permit have been started. In case the units authorized by permits in a particular month are not started by the end of that month, follow-ups are made in successive months to find out when the units were actually started. From this sample of permits, ratios are calculated, by type of structure, of the number of units started to the number of units covered by permits; separate ratios are calculated for units started each month from permits of that month and of each preceding month. These ratios are then applied to the total number of units authorized (by type of structure) by permits in the corresponding months to provide estimates of the total number of units started each month with permit authorization. Third, having produced an estimate of the number of units started in each month with permit authorization, an upward adjustment of 3.3 percent is next made to the number of one-family homes started to take care of those units started within permit-issuing areas but without permit authorization. (A study spanning a four year period indicated that permits were obtained for all buildings with 2 housing units or more.) The fourth step in estimating total housing starts is to estimate the number of units started in areas where building permit systems do not exist. In a sample of these areas (counties or groups of counties), visits are made to a select group of persons who are presumed most likely to know about local housing activities. A list is obtained from them of all residential buildings they know to have been started within these areas during the preceding month. Next, the information provided by these sources is verified by field visit or by telephone interview with the owners or builders. As the next step, a subsample of small land areas is canvassed intensively by Census employees who look for all units started since the previous month, identifying those not reported by the sources as well as those reported by them. This canvass provides a basis for estimating the number of units not reported by the local sources. Units not reported by local sources are then added to the number of units reported by these sources, with appropriate weighting, to provide an estimate of total housing starts in areas not covered by building permit systems.

Information on public housing is obtained, for the most. part, from the agencies involved, e.g., Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Defense, etc.