Although single-family construction started last month reached an eight-year high, multifamily activity drove down new permits and completed construction.
During February, building permits were issued for the construction of 83,800 privately owned housing units. The non-seasonally adjusted figure is preliminary.
That brought the seasonally adjusted annual rate of permits to
1.167 million. The total includes one-to-four unit residential properties and multifamily structures.
The data was jointly reported Wednesday
by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Building permits declined to the lowest level since October 2015, when the annual rate was an upwardly revised 1.161 million.
Although the most-recent rate of permits
was lower than an upwardly adjusted 1.204 million in January 2016, the rate was higher than the upwardly revised 1.098 million in February 2015.
The month-over-month decline was driven by multifamily
permits, which sank 9 percent.
The total annual rate in the Midwest tumbled 11 percent to 0.186 million as of February 2016,
while it was down 7 percent in the West to 0.297 million and off 4 percent in the South to 0.559 million. But permits surged 40 percent in the Northeast to an annual rate of 0.125 million.
At the end of last month, there were a seasonally adjusted 144,000 U.S. housing units authorized but not started.
Home builders started construction on new housing units at a rate of 1.178 million during the latest period, rising from an upwardly revised 1.120 million in January and an upwardly revised 0.900 in February 2015.
That left a seasonally adjusted 987,000 housing units under construction as of Feb. 29, 2016.
The National Association of Home Builders noted that
single-family starts, which came in at an annual rate of 0.822 million, reached the highest level since November 2007.
“February’s single-family gains indicate that this sector is strengthening in line with our forecast,” NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe said in the statement. “As the U.S. economy firms, job creation continues and mortgage interest rates remain low, we should see further growth in housing production moving forward.”
Builders completed construction on housing units at a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.016 million, slowing from an upwardly revised 1.060 million a month earlier but rising from 0.865 million a year earlier.
Even though one-unit properties completed climbed 6 percent from January, multifamily completions plunged more than a quarter.
Overall completed construction sank 27 percent from January in the Northeast to an annual rate of 0.072 million. The Midwest saw a 5 percent drop to a rate of 0.137 million, while the West was down 1.4 percent to 0.272 million, and the South slipped 1.1 percent to 0.535 million.
“This month’s report is consistent with positive builder sentiment and other economic indicators showing that the housing market continues to recover at a gradual pace,” NAHB Chairman Ed Brady stated in the trade group’s news release.
