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Notionol Reroil lumber Deolers R.eport '58 Housing Starts Wcy Out

The preliminary estimate of 91,000 new nonfarm dwelling units started in December is 27,600 units more than Decem-ber a -year ago, and brings the seasonally adjusted annual rate_o^f private starts up to 1,430,000 units. The final figures for 1958 will not be known until after the revision oT the October, November and December figures, but this pre-

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liminary total is 155,800 more than 1957, repofts the National Retail Lumber Dealers Association.

Nonfarm housing starts reversed a 2-year downtrend and rose to a total of almost 1,200,000 units in 1958, according to preliminary estimates of the U.S. I-abor Department's Buieau of Labor Statistics. The unusually large vblume of housing begun in the second half of the year pushed the 1958 total l5/o above 1957, to the highest level since 1955.

December starts declined much less than usual for the time of year to 91,000 units, which was more than 4O/o above the December figures for the previous two years. The 89,500 private units started in December 1958 almost matched the 1954 record for the month and represented a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,430,000 units.

Private housing begun in 1958 totaled 1,130,600 units, or l4Vo more than in 1957. Gains over the rrear were due mainly'to the sharp upturn in FHA-assisted housing, which accounted for 26/o of the privately financed starts in 1958, compared with 17% in 1957. The number of conventionallv financed dwelling'units increased about 5/o over the yeai, but the share of total private housing which was conventionally financed declined from 7O/o ln 1957 to 65/o in 1958. Housing started under the VA program was down 20/o frorn 1957 despite substantial gains in the latter half of the year, and represented only 9/o of the 1958 private total.

Publicly owned housing placed under construction in 1958 totaled 67]W units-the largest number started since 1951. Most of the increase in the public category was to pro- vide housing at military installations under the Capehart program, which accounted for more than half of the public housing begun in 1958.

Almost a fifth of all dwelling units (private and pub- lic) started in 1958 were in apartment buildings and other multifamily structures. Preliminary estimates indicate that the total number of such rental-type units increased by more than 30o/o over the year and approached the 1949-5C postwar record volume of multifamily construction. The number of new single-family units was about 10/o higher in 1958 than in 1957.

The gains in new housing activity in 1958 were greatest in the metropolitan areas of the country, reflecting the upturn in apartment construction as well as the increased activity under the FHA programs. After declining in 1957, housing starts in metropolitan areas rose l8/o in 1958. The comparable 1958 gain in non-metropolitan areas was 9/o.

According to preliminary estimates, all regions of the