The U.S. Census Bureau released its Monthly New Residential Construction report for February on March 18, showing a double-digit increase in housing starts month-to-month, but down compared to February 2024’s rate.

Housing Starts

Privately-owned housing starts in February were at a seasonally-adjusted rate of 1.5 million, up 11.2% month from January’s revised estimate of 1.3 million, and down 2.9% year-over-year. Single-family housing starts were at a rate of 1.1 million, 11.4% above the revised January figure of 995,000.

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U.S. Housing Starts Month-to-Month % Change

source: tradingeconomics.com

Building Permits

Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in February were at a seasonally-adjusted rate of 1.45 million, down 6.8% year-over-year from the February 2024 rate of 1.56 million and 1.2% below the revised rate of 1.47 million in January. Single family authorizations were at a rate of 992,000, down 0.2% from the revised January figure of 994,000.

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Housing Completions

In February, privately-owned housing completions were at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 1.59 million, 6.2% below the February 2024 rate of 1.69 million and 4.0% below the revised January estimate of 1.65 million. While single-family housing completions were at a rate of 1.06 million, 7.1% above the revised January rate of 995,000.