Housing Starts:
Privately‐owned housing starts in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,769,000. This is 6.8 percent above the revised January estimate of 1,657,000 and is 22.3 percent above the February 2021 rate of 1,447,000. Single‐family housing starts in February were at a rate of 1,215,000; this is 5.7 percent above the revised January figure of 1,150,000. The February rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 501,000.Building Permits:
Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,859,000. This is 1.9 percent below the revised January rate of 1,895,000, but is 7.7 percent above the February 2021 rate of 1,726,000. Single‐family authorizations in February were at a rate of 1,207,000; this is 0.5 percent below the revised January figure of 1,213,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 597,000 in February.
emphasis added
The first graph shows single and multi-family housing starts for the last several years.
Multi-family starts (blue, 2+ units) increased in February compared to January. Multi-family starts were up 46.5% year-over-year in February. Note: Last year, starts were impacted by the freeze in Texas.
Single-family starts (red) increased in February and were up 13.7% year-over-year.
This shows the huge collapse following the housing bubble, and then the eventual recovery (but still not historically high).
Total housing starts in February were above expectations, and starts in December and January were revised up, combined.
I’ll have more later …