by Calculated Risk on 3/16/2023 08:40:00 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 1,450,000. This is 9.8 percent above the revised January estimate of 1,321,000, but is 18.4 percent below the February 2022 rate of 1,777,000. Single‐family housing starts in February were at a rate of 830,000; this is 1.1 percent above the revised January figure of 821,000. The February rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 608,000.

Building Permits:
Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,524,000. This is 13.8 percent above the revised January rate of 1,339,000, but is 17.9 percent below the February 2022 rate of 1,857,000. Single‐family authorizations in February were at a rate of 777,000; this is 7.6 percent above the revised January figure of 722,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 700,000 in February.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows single and multi-family housing starts for the last several years.

Multi-family starts (blue, 2+ units) decreased in February compared to January.   Multi-family starts were up 9.9% year-over-year in February. 

Single-family starts (red) increased slightly in February and were down 31.6% 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 in single-family starts.

Total housing starts in February were above expectations, however, starts in December and January were revised down, combined.

I'll have more later …