After an 18.6 percent surge in January, housing starts fell 8.7 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.16 million, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau report.
Single family starts dropped 17 percent during the month and multifamily starts grew 17.8 percent.
“Absent the surge last month, the drop in single-family production in February is not as huge as it appears,” National Association of Home Builders Analyst Danushka Nanayakkara-Skillington said in a statement. “Still, builders continue to remain cautious due to affordability concerns, as illustrated by the flat permits data." Permits fell 1.6 percent in February to 1.3 million.
Regionally, overall housing starts fell 29.5 percent in the Northeast, 18.9 percent in the West and 6.8 percent in the South. Starts in the Midwest grew 26.8 percent.
