Report of Building or Zoning Permits Issued for New Privately-Owned Housing Units

Attachment H

Welcome to the Report of Building or Zoning Permits Issued for New Privately‐Owned Housing Units
Title 13, United States Code, Sections 131 and 182, authorizes the Census Bureau to conduct this collection and to request your voluntary assistance.  These data 
are subject to provisions of Title 13, United States Code, Section 9(b) exempting data that are customarily provided in public records from rules of confidentiality. 
This collection has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).  
The eight‐digit OMB approval number is 0607‐0094 and appears at the upper right of this screen.  Without this approval, we could not conduct this survey.

We estimate this survey will take an average of 8 minutes per response for those that report monthly and 23 minutes for those that report 
annually to complete, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data 
needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information.  Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of 
this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to:
ECON Survey Comments 0607‐0094
U.S. Census Bureau
4600 Silver Hill Road
Room EMD‐6K064, Washington, DC 20233
You may e‐mail comments to ECON.Survey.Comments@census.gov. Be sure to use ECON Survey Comments 0607‐0094 as the subject.

Building Permits Survey (BPS) About the Survey
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You are here: Census.gov (http://www.census.gov) › Business Help Site (/bhs/index.html) › Building Permits Survey (BPS) (/bhs/bps/index.html) › About the Survey

Building Permits Survey (BPS)
Business Help Site
Main (/bhs/bps/index.html)

About the Survey

Contact Staff (/bhs/bps/contactus.html)

Forms & Letters (/bhs/bps/form_default.html)

DUE DATE:

About the Survey

Monthly - 4th day of the
following month
Annual - January 23, 2015

PURPOSE

TOOLS
Survey Log in
(https://respond.census.gov/bps)

DATA PRODUCTS

FAQs (/bhs/bps/faq.html)

Other Surveys (/bhs/bps/othersurvey.html)

RELATED SITES

The purpose of the Building Permits Survey is to provide national, state, and local statistics on new
privately-owned residential construction. The United States Code, Title 13, authorizes this survey, provides
for voluntary responses, and provides an exception to confidentiality for public records.

COVERAGE

North American Industry
Classification System
(NAICS)
(http://www.census.gov/eos/www/
Census Bureau Economic
Programs
(http://www.census.gov/econ/index

All places issuing building permits for privately-owned residential structures. Over 98 percent of all privatelyowned residential buildings constructed are in permit-issuing places.

Publications and Data
(https://www.census.gov/construction/bps/)

CONTENT
Using Economic Data
Data collected include number of buildings, number of housing units, and permit valuation by size of
(https://www.census.gov/econ/census/)
structure.

ADDITIONAL LINKS
Is this Survey Legitimate?
(/bhs/pages/legitimate.html)
Data Protection & Privacy
(https://www.census.gov/privacy/)
Legal/Confidentiality
(/bhs/pages/legal.html)
Quotes from Title 13
(/bhs/bps/title13.pdf)

econhelp.census.gov/bps

FREQUENCY
Data on permits issued for new construction are available monthly and annually since 1959; reported data
are for permit issuing activity taking place during the applicable reference period. Prior to 1959, data were
collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

METHODS
A monthly survey of 9,000 selected permit-issuing places; and an annual census of an additional 11,000
permit places that are not in the monthly sample. The monthly sample of permit-issuing places was selected
using a stratified systematic sample procedure. All permit places located in selected large metropolitan
areas were selected with certainty. The remaining places were stratified by state. Places that exceed a
cutoff value, which varies by state, were selected with certainty. Remaining places were sampled at a rate
of 1 in 10.
Monthly estimates represent all permit-issuing places nationwide. If a survey report is not received, missing
data on permits for new construction are imputed except for places that are also selected for the Survey of
Construction (SOC). For these places, SOC permit data are used. We request assistance from State Data
Centers (http://www.census.gov/sdc/network.html) to encourage jurisdictions to respond.
Reported data on permits for new construction are seasonally adjusted by Census Region and type of
structure. The Building Permits Survey Methodology document
(http://www.census.gov/construction/bps/faqs/faqs_seas.html)contains further information.

PRODUCTS
New Residential Construction press releases contain the first available permit data and are released on the
or about the 12th working day following the reference month. The reports contain the first available
preliminary monthly estimates of the number of new housing units authorized. Data are shown by type of
structure, at the national level, and by Census Region. All data are placed on the Census website at:
www.census.gov/permits. (http://www.census.gov/permits)
Revised monthly data are released on or about the 18th working day following the reference month. At that
time, monthly estimates are available at the Census Division, state, metropolitan area, county, and permitissuing-place levels. Public-use computer data files are also available at that time. All data are placed on
the website shown above. Estimates in the New Residential Construction press release are not updated on
the 18th working day. Any revisions are shown in the next month’s release.

USERS
The Conference Board uses the data for developing its index of leading economic indicators. The Federal
Reserve Board uses the data to analyze national and regional economic conditions. The Department of
Housing and Urban Development uses the data to evaluate housing programs. Financial institutions use
these statistics to estimate mortgage demand. Private businesses use them for market planning, material
use, and investment analysis.

SPECIAL FEATURES
Provides a designated principal economic indicator and the only source of current and consistent small area
data on new authorizations for residential construction. Data are from public records and not subject to
confidentiality restrictions.

ABOUT US

FIND DATA

BUSINESS & INDUSTRY

PEOPLE & HOUSEHOLDS

SPECIAL TOPICS

https://bhs.econ.census.gov/bhs/bps/about.html

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