by Calculated Risk on 3/19/2024 08:30:00 AM

From the Census Bureau: Permits, Starts and Completions

Housing Starts:
Privately‐owned housing starts in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,521,000. This is 10.7 percent above the revised January estimate of 1,374,000 and is 5.9 percent above the February 2023 rate of 1,436,000. Single‐family housing starts in February were at a rate of 1,129,000; this is 11.6 percent above the revised January figure of 1,012,000. The February rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 377,000.

Building Permits:
Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,518,000. This is 1.9 percent above the revised January rate of 1,489,000 and is 2.4 percent above the February 2023 rate of 1,482,000. Single‐family authorizations in February were at a rate of 1,031,000; this is 1.0 percent above the revised January figure of 1,021,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 429,000 in February.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows single and multi-family housing starts since 2000.

Multi-family starts (blue, 2+ units) increased in February compared to January.   Multi-family starts were down 34.8% year-over-year in February.

Single-family starts (red) increased in February and were up 35.2% year-over-year.

The second graph shows single and multi-family housing starts since 1968.

This shows the huge collapse following the housing bubble, and then the eventual recovery - and the recent collapse and recovery in single-family starts.

Total housing starts in February were above expectations and starts in December and January were revised up.

I'll have more later …