Housing starts experience February chill
Groundbreaking on new residential units in February was at the lowest level since January 2014, the U.S. Commerce Department said Tuesday.
Across the country, groundbreaking in February dropped 17 percent from the previous month, to a seasonally adjusted 897,000 units, and a 3.3 percent drop from February 2014’s 928,000 housing starts.
The decline in housing starts was dramatic in the Northeast, battered by an especially stormy winter this year. In February 2014 in the Northeast, there were 87,000 housing starts, compared with February 2015’s estimated 47,000, the Commerce report said. The Midwest also experienced a decline compared with the previous year, but housing starts were up in the South and West.
Figures for building permits in February, however, continued their upward trend nationally. They have been above 1 million nationally since July.
Nationwide, building permits authorized for privately-owned housing units in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,09 million, 3.0 percent above the revised January rate of 1.06 million and 7.7 percent above the February 2014 estimate of 1.01 million. In the Northeast, however, about 100,000 building permits were issued this February, down from February 2014’s 109,000.
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