The monthly
report on new residential construction from the Commerce Department showed on Tuesday
that housing starts soared by 11.2 per cent m-o-m in February to a seasonally
adjusted annual pace of 1.501 million while building permits fell by 1.2 per cent m-o-m to a
seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.456 million (the lowest level in four
months).
Economists had forecast
housing starts of 1.380 million units for February and building permits of 1.450
million units.
Data for January
was revised to show homebuilding rising at
a pace of 1.350 million units instead of increasing at a rate of 1.366 million
units as originally reported.
According to
the report, permits for single-family homes, the largest segment of the market,
decreased by 0.2 per cent m-o-m in February, while approvals for the
multi-family homes segment (includes 2 to 4 and 5 or more housing units) dropped
by 4.3 per cent m-o-m.
In the meantime, groundbreaking on single-family
homes jumped by 11.4 per cent m-o-m in February, while multi-unit starts climbed
by 12.1 per cent m-o-m.