Nationwide housing starts rose 3% in February from an upwardly revised January reading to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.288 million units, according to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Commerce Department. Single-family production increased 6.5% to 872,000 units (its highest reading in nearly a decade), while multi-family starts fell 3.7% to 416,000 units.  

“This month’s gain in single-family starts is consistent with rising builder confidence in the housing market,” said Granger MacDonald, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder and developer from Kerrville, Texas. “We should see single-family production continue to grow throughout the year, tempered somewhat by supply-side constraints such as access to lots and labor.”

“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, NAHB chief economist. “The modest drop in multifamily starts is in line with our forecast, which calls for this sector to continue to stabilize in 2017.”

Regionally in February, combined single- and multi-family housing production rose 35.7% in the West. Starts fell by 3.8% in the South, 4.6% in the Midwest, and 9.8% in the Northeast.

A drop in multi-family permits pulled overall permit issuance down 6.2% in February. Multi-family permits fell 21.6% to 381,000 units, while single-family permits rose 3.1% to 832,000 units (its highest level since September 2007). 

Regionally, overall permits rose 25.4% in the Midwest. Permits fell 10% in the West, 10.4% in the South and 22.3% in the Northeast. 

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