January total housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.25 million, 2.6 percent below the December rate of 1.28 million but 10.5 percent above the January 2016 rate of 1.13 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
January total housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.25 million, 2.6 percent below the December rate of 1.28 million but 10.5 percent above the January 2016 rate of 1.13 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Single-family housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 823,000, 1.9 percent higher than the December rate of 808,000. Multifamily starts fell 10.2 percent to 423,000 after an unusually high rate in December of 431,000.
"Some pull back in housing production is unsurprising after an overly strong multifamily reading last month," said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz in a statement. "As we move forward in 2017, we can expect the multifamily sector to continue to stabilize and single-family production to move forward at a gradual but consistent pace."
Combined single- and multifamily housing production rose 55.4 percent to 143,000 in the Northeast and 20 percent to 690,000 in the South. Starts in the Midwest dropped 17.9 percent to 188,000, and starts in the West fell 41.3 percent to 225,000.