Housing starts is an economic indicator that reflects the number of privately owned new houses (technically housing units) on which construction has been started in a given period. This data is divided into three types: single-family houses, townhouses or small condos, and apartment buildings with five or more units.
Each apartment unit is considered a single start. The construction of a 30-unit apartment building is counted as 30 housing starts.
An economic indicator is a statistic about an economic activity. Economic indicators allow analysis of economic performance and predictions of future performance. One application of economic indicators is the study of business cycles. Economic indicators include various indices, earnings reports, and economic summaries: for example, the unemployment rate, quits rate (quit rate in American English), housing starts, consumer price index (a measure for inflation), inverted yield curve, consumer leverage ratio, industrial production, bankruptcies, gross domestic product, broadband internet penetration, retail sales, price index, and changes in credit conditions.
The leading business cycle dating committee in the United States of America is the private National Bureau of Economic Research. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government in the field of labor economics and statistics. Other producers of economic indicators includes the United States Census Bureau and United States Bureau of Economic Analysis.
View the full Wikipedia page for Economic indicatorHome construction, housing construction, or residential construction is the process of constructing a house, apartment building, or similar residential building generally referred to as a 'home' when giving consideration to the people who might now or someday reside there. Beginning with simple pre-historic shelters, home construction techniques have evolved to produce the vast multitude of living accommodations available today. Different levels of wealth and power have warranted various sizes, luxuries, and even defenses in a "home". Environmental considerations and cultural influences have created an immensely diverse collection of architectural styles, creating a wide array of possible structures for homes.
The cost of housing and access to it is often controlled by the modern realty trade, which frequently has a certain level of market force speculation. The level of economic activity in the home-construction section is reported as housing starts, though this is contrarily denominated in terms of distinct habitation units, rather than distinct construction efforts. 'Housing' is also the chosen term in the related concepts of housing tenure, affordable housing, and housing unit (aka dwelling). Four of the primary trades involved in home construction are carpenters, masons, electricians and plumbers, but there are many others as well.
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