The U.S. Census Bureau proposes to extend “the surveys known as the Report of Building or Zoning Permits Issued for New Privately-Owned Housing Units (C-404) and the Survey of Residential Building or Zoning Permit Systems (C-411),” also known as the Building Permits Survey (BPS). Public comments are due by November 30, 2026.
“The C-411 is utilized to update the permit issuing status of all jurisdictions in the AGF. The C-404 is primarily used to collect both monthly and annual data on the number of new housing unit permits issued in permit issuing jurisdictions.”
“These two surveys provide widely used measures of construction activity, including the Principal Federal Economic Indicators: New Residential Construction (NRC) and New Residential Sales (NRS)”
The Bureau claims that the BPS is “the only source of statistics on residential construction for states and smaller geographic areas. The Census Bureau uses the detailed geographic data collected from state and local officials on new residential construction authorized by building permits in the development of annual population estimates. These estimates are used by government agencies to allocate funding and other resources to local areas. Policymakers, planners, businesses, and others also use this data to monitor growth, plan for local services, and to develop production and marketing plans.”
- Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposals, Submissions, and Approvals: Building Permits Survey Program https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/10/01/2026-20154/agency-information-collection-activities-submission-to-the-office-of-management-and-budget-omb-for
