1. Evaluating the Use of Publicly Available Building Permit Data to Complement Data Collection and Analysis of Construction Surveys
Angela Delano
Economic Directorate, United States Census Bureau
UNECE Workshop on Survey Collection
Disclaimer: Any views expressed in this presentation are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the U.S. Census Bureau.

2. Why Construction Surveys?
Government agencies, policy analysts, financial institutions, and manufacturers in the United States use new construction data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau
New construction data helps measure and evaluate size, composition, and change occurring within the U.S. housing and construction sectors
What surveys collect new residential construction data?
Building Permit Survey (BPS)
Survey of Construction (SOC)

3. Building Permit Survey
Voluntary survey measuring new, privately-owned, residential construction authorized by building permits in permit-issuing places
Provides national, regional, state, and local data
Number of Buildings
Number of Housing Units
Permit Valuation
Over 20,000 permit-issuing places of which ≈ 8,500 are surveyed monthly (remaining annually)
Funded and conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau

4. BPS Questionnaire

5. Survey of Construction
Voluntary survey measuring new, privately-owned, residential housing units authorized in permit-issuing places and in areas where building permits are not required
Provides national and regional data only
Start and Completion Dates
Characteristics (beds, baths, floors, square footage, etc.)
Sales Data (date, price, financing) for single-family only
Sample based off BPS, ≈ 950 places surveyed monthly
Partially funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau
Each month new construction sampled via
Monthly sample of building permits from predefined permit-issuing places
Canvassing operation for new construction in predefined non-permit-issuing places
Once sampled, survey returns to same housing unit approximately every month until completion and/or sale

6. SOC Listing Operation

7. SOC Interviewing Operation

8. Expending More Resources…
Monthly Building Permit Survey - January 2016 to January 2017
Reporting Source
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Reports Received
68%
69%
65%
66%
67%
Paper Reporting
40%
41%
39%
36%
37%
38%
Electronic Reporting 4% 3% 2%
Internet Reporting
24%
23%
22%
27%
26%
28%
Reports not Received
32%
31%
35%
34%
33%
Data from SOC
Data from Imputation
30%
29%
Data not Received 1%
Sample Size
8,457
8,460
8,456
8,454
8,455
8,453
Reporting Source Distribution for the Monthly Building Permit Survey
Source: U.S. Census Bureau; Building Permit Survey; Monthly Place Level Files

9. …Increases Burden and Cost
Housing Units Authorized by the Monthly Building Permit Survey - January 2016 to January 2017
Reporting Source
0 Units
> 0 Units
> 2 Units
> 15 Units
> 60 Units
> 150 Units
> 350 Units
> 900 Units
Reports Received
69%
61%
67%
65%
62%
51%
38%
Paper Reporting
46%
33%
32%
29%
26%
27%
28%
Electronic Reporting 4% 3% 1% 2% 0%
Internet Reporting
20%
24%
37%
36%
10%
Reports not Received
31%
39%
35%
49%
63%
Data from SOC 7%
15%
42%
60%
Data from Imputation
30%
11%
Data not Received
Sample Size
53,817
21,177
22,574
8,697
2,320
902
356 80
Reporting Source Distribution for the Monthly Building Permit Survey by Number of Housing Units Authorized
Source: U.S. Census Bureau; Building Permit Survey, Monthly Place Level Files

10. What is a Researcher to do?
Examine the use of publicly available building permit data to complement data collection and analysis methods for measuring new construction
Why?
Reduce respondent burden from multiple requests for similar survey data
Increase response rates if frequency and/or complexity of other survey requests is reduced
Increase data quality through reducing data collection errors and analyzing new information

11. New Data Sources
Permit-issuing places have begun making permit information available publicly
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)
Building Permit Issuance Reports
Searchable Building Permit Databases
Content, format, and accessibility vary widely
Investigate advantages & limitations related to
Coverage
Timeliness
Completeness
Classification
Validity

12. Coverage…with a Caveat
Not every permit-issuing place will have publicly available information
General permitting information for some
APIs more appropriate for places issuing large numbers of building permits
Research coverage focus
Austin, TX
Boston, MA
Cary Town, NC
Chicago, IL
Las Vegas, NV
Mesa, AZ
Nashville, TN
San Jose, CA
Seattle, WA

13. Timeliness…is Important
Frequency of data source updates is important
Monthly
Biweekly
Weekly
Daily
Infrequent updates or potential missed updates due to human or computer error will introduce uncertainty and error into estimates
Highest frequency updates = APIs
Lowest frequency updates = Reports

14. Completeness for BPS…
Building Permit Survey
Publicly Available Data Sources - Application Programming Interfaces
Austin TX
Boston MA
Cary Town NC
Chicago IL
Las Vegas NV
Mesa AZ
Nashville TN
San Jose CA
Seattle WA
Residential Data Needed
Type (residential, commercial, etc.)
Yes
Number of Buildings
Number of Housing Units
Occupancy
Dwelling
Valuation
Availability of Residential Data for the Monthly Building Permit Survey via New Publicly Available Data Sources
Source: U.S. Census Bureau; Building Permit Survey, How the Data are Collected & Publicly Available Data Sources
Austin, Cary Town, Mesa and San Jose excellent candidates for BPS
Boston does not report classification
Nashville and Seattle do not report housing units
Chicago and Las Vegas do not report either type

15. …May be Different for SOC
Survey of Construction
Publicly Available Data Sources - Application Programming Interfaces
Austin TX
Boston MA
Cary Town NC
Chicago IL
Las Vegas NV
Mesa AZ
Nashville TN
San Jose CA
Seattle WA
Residential Data Needed
Permit Information
Permit Number
Yes
Issue Date
Housing Units
Occupancy
Dwelling
Construction Information
Construction Description
Address (Full, Partial, None)
Full
Partial
Construction Dates
Start Date
Certificate of Occupancy
Completion Date
Respondent Information
Applicant Contractor
Applicant
Contractor Owner
Contractor
Contact
Applicant Contractor Owner
Building Characteristics
Condo
Sq Foot
> 25 Single-Family Items
< 20 Multifamily Items
Floors
Availability of Residential Data for the Survey of Construction via New Publicly Available Data Sources
Source: U.S. Census Bureau; Building Permit Survey, How the Data are Collected & Publicly Available Data Sources

16. …So Take the Good with the Bad
Survey of Construction
Publicly Available Data Sources - Application Programming Interfaces
Austin TX
Boston MA
Cary Town NC
Chicago IL
Las Vegas NV
Mesa AZ
Nashville TN
San Jose CA
Seattle WA
Residential Data Needed
Permit Information
Permit Number
Yes
Issue Date
Housing Units
Occupancy
Dwelling
Construction Information
Construction Description
Address (Full, Partial, None)
Full
Partial
Construction Dates
Start Date
Certificate of Occupancy
Completion Date
Respondent Information
Applicant Contractor
Applicant
Contractor Owner
Contractor
Contact
Applicant Contractor Owner
Building Characteristics
Condo
Sq Foot
> 25 Single-Family Items
< 20 Multifamily Items
Floors
Availability of Residential Data for the Survey of Construction via New Publicly Available Data Sources
Source: U.S. Census Bureau; Building Permit Survey, How the Data are Collected & Publicly Available Data Sources
For Estimating Completion Dates
For Collecting Characteristics

17. Classification…What are you?
Permit-issuing places vary in reporting housing units
Significant data item for BPS and SOC!
When housing unit information unavailable, use of construction classification may suffice
Austin, Cary Town, Mesa, Nashville, San Jose, and Seattle
When construction classification is unavailable
Location Outlier Information (network analysis of lat/long)
Permit Valuation Information (house $ < apartment $ < mixed-use $)
Work Description (topic modeling via text analysis)

18. Validity…
Prior to incorporation new data sources must be validated against current survey data
Against BPS, validation against total
Number of buildings (complete)
Construction value (complete)
Against SOC, validation against
Listing of building permits (ongoing)
Interview for building characteristics (future)

19. Validity…Seattle, WA API Classified Permits to BPS Buildings (left) and SOC Permits (right)

20. Validity…Nashville, TN API Classified Permits to BPS Buildings (left) and SOC Permits (right)

21. Validity…Las Vegas, NV API Classified Permits to BPS Buildings (left) and SOC Permits (right)

22. Validity…Mesa, AZ API Classified Permits to BPS Buildings (left) and SOC Permits (right)

23. Summary
New publicly available building permit data sources are available
Mainly for permit-issuing places issuing larger numbers of permits
Reduction of respondent burden and increase in response rates looks promising
Increased data quality
Reduce data collection errors
Analysis of new information not currently collected
Development of new measures
Differences to contend with
Formats (API, Report, Databases, etc.)
Availability
Classification (residential vs commercial)
Definitional (unit vs dwelling, square footage, etc.)
Missing information (housing unit, building characteristics)

24. Thank You! Please reach out with any questions or comments
Angela Delano