March 16, 2017
Total housing starts posted in increase in February, with a solid gain for single-family construction and ongoing elevated levels of multifamily development. A joint data release from the Census Bureau and HUD reports that total starts were up 3 percent, rising to a 1.288 million seasonally adjusted annual rate. Single-family starts recorded a monthly increase of 6.5 percent in February, rising to an 872,000 annual rate—the fastest annualized pace since the fall of 2007. Single-family permits were up 3.1 percent in February, also posting the fastest rate in almost 10 years.
