Single-family production also at highest since 2007
Single-family housing starts increased by 3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.288 million units in February – the highest level since late 2007, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Single-family production also hit its highest reading in almost a decade with an increase of 6.5% to 872,000 units, but multifamily starts declined by 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 NAHB Chair Granger MacDonald. “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.”
Single- and multifamily housing production went up by 35.7% in the West, while starts dropped by 3.8% in the South, 4.6% in the Midwest and 9.8% in the Northeast.
“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 NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “The modest drop in multifamily starts is in line with our forecast, which calls for this sector to continue to stabilize in 2017.”
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“This month’s gain in single-family starts is consistent with rising builder confidence in the housing market,” said NAHB Chair Granger MacDonald. “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.”
Single- and multifamily housing production went up by 35.7% in the West, while starts dropped by 3.8% in the South, 4.6% in the Midwest and 9.8% in the Northeast.
“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 NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “The modest drop in multifamily starts is in line with our forecast, which calls for this sector to continue to stabilize in 2017.”
Related stories: NAHB applauds Trump’s Dodd-Frank rollback
