[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 248 (Thursday, December 28, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61535-61536]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-28021]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of

[[Page 61536]]

information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act.
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
    Title: Survey of Housing Starts, Sales & Completions.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0110.
    Form Number(s): SOC-Q1/SF.1, SCO-Q1/MF.1.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Number of Respondents: 19,440.
    Average Hours per Response: 5 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 150,066.
    Needs and Uses: The U.S. Census Bureau is requesting a revision and 
extension of the currently approved collection for the Survey of 
Housing Starts, Sales, and Completions, otherwise known as the Survey 
of Construction (SOC). Government agencies and private companies use 
statistics from SOC to monitor and evaluate the large and dynamic 
housing construction industry. Data for two Principal Federal 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. The collection of data on housing units sold 
and completed and physical characteristics is funded by the Department 
of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) via a reimbursable agreement 
with the Census Bureau. HUD uses data on housing market conditions to 
inform its policies. 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.
    The respondents are homebuilders, real estate agents, rental 
agents, or new homeowners of sampled residential buildings. Field 
Representatives contact respondents multiple times based on the number 
of projects in the sample and the number of months required to complete 
the project (usually about 8 months).
    After discussions with HUD and other key data users, we identified 
one new data item on ceiling height to be added to the single-family 
questionnaire.
    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 in this interest-rate sensitive area of the economy. 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.
    Affected Public: Individuals; Businesses.
    Frequency: Monthly.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, Sections 131 and 
182.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view Department of Commerce 
collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to [email protected] or fax to (202) 395-5806.

Sheleen Dumas,
Departmental PRA Lead, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2017-28021 Filed 12-27-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-07-P