Housing starts stall in February

Updated Mar 21, 2013

newhomeAfter a big dip in January, housing starts basically stalled in February, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Census Bureau.

Construction began on houses and apartments at a seasonally adjusted rate of 917,000 in February, marking only a 0.8-percent increase from January’s revised estimate of 910,000.

Despite the dip, the February rate is 27.7 percent higher than February 2012′s rate of 718,000.

Single-family home starts in February were up 0.5 percent above the revised January figure to 618,000. Apartment starts were at a rate of 285,000 in February.

Housing completions in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 711,000. That marks a 0.6-percent decrease below the revised January estimate of 715,000. However, that completions rate is 24.3 percent above the February 2012 rate of 572,000.

Completions of single family homes February were up 3.6 percent to a rate of 574,000. Apartment complete ions were at a rate of 130,000.

Building permits in February were issued to homes at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 946,000. That makes for a is 4.6-percent increase above the revised January rate of 904,000 and is 33.6 percent higher than the February 2012 estimate of 707,000.

Permits were issued to single-family homes at a rate of 600,000, an increase of 2.7 percent above the revised January figure of 584,000. Permits were issued to apartments at a rate of 316,000 in February.