US housing starts for February 1.521M vs 1.425M estimate

• Prior month housing starts 1.331M revised 1.374M
• Prior month building permits 1.470M (Unrevised
• housing starts for February 1.521M versus 1.425M estimate
• building permits 1.518M versus 1.495M estimate

Building permits summary:

• Housing units authorized by building permits in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,518,000.
• This rate is 1.9% above the revised January rate of 1,489,000 and 2.4% above the February 2023 rate of 1,482,000.
• Single-family authorizations in February were at a rate of 1,031,000, 1.0% 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.

Housing starts summary:

• Privately-owned housing starts in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,521,000, marking a 10.7% increase from the revised January estimate of 1,374,000.
• This rate is also 5.9% higher than the February 2023 rate of 1,436,000.
• Single-family housing starts in February were at a rate of 1,129,000, which is 11.6% above the revised January figure of 1,012,000.
• The rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 377,000 in February.

Housing completions:

• Privately-owned housing completions in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,729,000, a 19.7% increase from the revised January estimate of 1,445,000.
• This rate is 9.6% higher than the February 2023 rate of 1,577,000.
• Single-family housing completions in February stood at a rate of 1,072,000, up 20.2% from the revised January rate of 892,000.
• For units in buildings with five units or more, the February rate was 644,000.

This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com.