Housing starts in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.29 million units, an increase of 3 percent from January’s rate of 1.25 million and a 6.2 percent increase from 1.21 million in February 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Single-family housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 872,000 units, a 6.5 percent increase compared with January’s rate of 819,000. The rate for buildings with five units or more was 396,000, down 7.69 from January’s rate of 429,000.
"The growth in the single-family arena is very encouraging, but may be partly attributable to unusually warm weather conditions throughout most of the country," said Robert Dietz, National Association of Home Builders Chief Economist, in a statement. "The modest drop in multifamily starts is in line with our forecast, which calls for this sector to continue to stabilize in 2017."
Combined single- and multifamily starts fell 3.8 percent to 659,000 in the South, 4.6 percent to 187,000 in the Midwest and 9.8 percent to 119,000 in the Northeast. Starts increased 35.7 percent to 323,000 in the West.
