[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 241 (Monday, December 18, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 87402-87403]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-27729]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Survey of Housing Starts, Sales, and Completions

    The Department of Commerce will submit the following information 
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the 
general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and 
continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of 
our information collection requirements and minimize the public's 
reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the 
Federal Register on August 3, 2023, during a 60-day comment period. 
This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce.
    Title: Survey of Housing Starts, Sales, and Completions.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0110
    Form Number(s): SOC-QI/SF.1 and SOC-QI/MF.1.
    Type of Request: Regular submission, request for an extension, 
without change, of a currently approved collection.
    Number of Respondents: We collect data for approximately 21,363 new 
buildings a year. A builder or owner may be contacted several times 
based on how long the construction project takes. We estimate the 
average number of times we need to contact the builder or owner is 
between 7 and 8 times. The total number of responses annually is 
161,412.
    Average Hours per Response: 5 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 13,451.
    Needs and Uses: The U. S. Census Bureau is requesting an extension 
of the currently approved collection for the Survey of Housing Starts, 
Sales, and Completions, otherwise known as the Survey of Construction 
(SOC). The SOC is co-sponsored by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. 
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
    Government agencies and private companies use statistics from SOC 
to monitor and evaluate the large and dynamic housing construction 
industry. Data for two principal economic indicators are produced from 
the SOC: New Residential Construction (housing starts and housing 
completions) and New Residential Sales. In addition, a number of other 
statistical series are produced, including extensive information on the 
physical characteristics of new residential buildings, and indexes 
measuring rates of inflation in the price of new buildings. These 
statistics are based on a sample of residential buildings in permit-
issuing places and a road canvass in a sample of land areas not covered 
by building permit systems.
    Census Bureau field representatives (FRs) mail forms to new 
respondents to complete. A few days later, the FRs either call or visit 
the respondents to enter their survey responses into a laptop computer 
using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) software. The 
respondents are home builders, real estate agents, rental agents, or 
new homeowners of sampled residential buildings. FRs contact 
respondents multiple times based on the number of projects in the 
sample and the number of months required to complete the project.
    The Census Bureau uses the information collected in the SOC to 
publish estimates of the number of new residential housing units 
started, under construction, completed, and the number of new houses 
sold and for sale. The Census Bureau also publishes many financial and 
physical characteristics of new housing units. Government agencies use 
these statistics to evaluate economic policy, measure progress towards 
the national housing goal, make policy decisions, and formulate 
legislation. For example, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 
System uses data from this survey to evaluate the effect of interest 
rates. The Bureau of Economic Analysis uses the data in developing the 
Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The private sector uses the information 
for estimating the demand for building materials and the many products 
used in new housing and to schedule production, distribution, and sales 
efforts. The financial community uses the data to estimate the demand 
for short-term (construction loans) and long-term (mortgages) 
borrowing.
    Frequency: Monthly.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: The Census Bureau is authorized under title 13, 
United States Code, sections 131 and 182 to collect information, and 
under title 13 section 8(b) to perform survey work for other agencies, 
including HUD. HUD is authorized under title 12 U.S.C., sections 1701z-
1 and 1701z-2g to collect or obtain information on new residential 
buildings.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of 
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of 
this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently 
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or

[[Page 87403]]

by using the search function and entering either the title of the 
collection or the OMB Control Number 0607-0110.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for 
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2023-27729 Filed 12-15-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P