Housing starts fell 3.6% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.56 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Compared with January 2019, the housing start rate has surged 21.4%.
"The housing recovery continues, as single-family housing starts have surpassed 1 million for the second consecutive month and multifamily production has been running above 500,000 for the same period," stated Dean Mon, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders. "Meanwhile, builder confidence remains solid as demand continues to pick up."
Building permits grew 9.2% during the month, and are up 17.9% year-over-year at a rate of 1.55 million. Housing completions declined 3.3% in January to a rate of 1.28 million, but increased 1.5% compared with January 2019.
The full January housing report can be found here.