Newsroom

Statement from U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson on New Residential Construction in November 2011

Submitted on December 20, 2011 - 2:57pm
Categories:

WASHINGTON – The Commerce Department's U.S. Census Bureau today released data on new residential construction in November 2011.  Permits for new housing units rose 5.7 percent in November, well-above private-sector expectations of a 1.7 percent decline.  Housing starts soared to their highest level since April 2010, increasing 9.3 percent from October to November and 24.3 percent from November 2010. Private-sector analysts had expected an 0.3 percent rise. 

Today's news was driven in large part by a significant upturn in multi-family housing starts - an increase of 25.3 percent from October to November 2011.  The three-month average of multi-family starts is also up.

Statement from U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson on U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services in October 2011

Submitted on December 9, 2011 - 11:38am
Categories:

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Commerce John E. Bryson issued the following statement today on the release of the October 2011 U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services report by the Commerce Department’s U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.  Today’s report showed that U.S. exports of goods and services in October 2011 decreased 0.8 percent from September 2011 to $179.2 billion, with this month’s exports of capital goods ($42.3 billion) the highest on record. U.S. imports of goods and services also decreased by 1.0 percent to reach $222.6 billion, causing the U.S. trade deficit to improve by 1.6 percent to reach $43.5 billion in October 2011, the lowest monthly deficit level in 2011.