By TheStreet Staff What Are Building Permits?Building permits are approvals for construction of new and existing privately owned homes. The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) release a monthly report on building permits for new homes, which investors and analysts focus on to gauge economic activity. The New Residential Construction report also includes data on housing starts and housing completions. The Census Bureau and HUD collect data for the Monthly Building Permits Survey from 20,000 permit-issuing places across the country—typically at the l…