Overall privately owned housing starts saw a leap of 9.7 percent in January, thanks in part to a swell in multifamily unit construction.
The winter surge brings U.S. private housing production to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.3 million.
The data, released by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, shows an increase from December of 23.7 percent in multifamily housing production, which climbed to a rate of 449,000 new units per year.
Single-family housing production registered an uptick as well, growing to 877,000 units annually, an increase of 3.7 percent from December figures.
The overall January growth is an increase of 7.3 percent from January 2017.
National Association of Home Builders Chairman Randy Noel credited the production growth to a “pro-business regulatory climate” and increasing housing demand.
“The growth in production is in line with our reports of solid builder confidence in the housing market,” Noel said in a statement.
From a regional standpoint, according to NAHB, combined single and multifamily housing production jumped 45.5 percent in the Northeast in January, the West seeing an increase of 10.7 percent and the South of 9.3 percent. The Midwest saw a decline of 10.2 percent.
