{"id":38604,"date":"2016-03-16T15:27:17","date_gmt":"2016-03-16T20:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=38604"},"modified":"2016-03-16T15:27:17","modified_gmt":"2016-03-16T20:27:17","slug":"single-family-homes-boost-february-housing-starts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/single-family-homes-boost-february-housing-starts\/","title":{"rendered":"Single-family homes boost February housing starts"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sarah Very<\/strong><\/p>\n

Construction of new homes jumped unexpectedly in February to their highest level in five months, bolstered by a spike in single-family home-building.<\/p>\n

Housing starts jumped 5.2 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted 1.18 million annualized rate, outpacing January\u2019s upwardly restated 1.12 million pace, the U.S. Commerce Department said Wednesday. This outperformed the 1.15 million rate economists surveyed by Bloomberg were expecting. <\/p>\n

The leap in February was helped as builders broke ground on a seasonally adjusted 822,000 single-family homes. This was the most since November 2007, in the last days of the housing boom. <\/p>\n

Building of single-family homes was 7.2 percent above January\u2019s 767,000 annualized rate, and up 37 percent from one year ago.
\n<\/p>\n

Single-family home starts are considered a better indicator of the housing sector\u2019s strengths than the more volatile rate for apartments and condominiums. The building rate for these types of multi-household buildings bumped upward by 0.8 percent to 356,000 in February.<\/p>\n

New Privately-Owned Housing Units Started (in millions)<\/h2>\n

[field name=”chart”]<\/p>\n

Housing units jumped to a seasonally adjusted 1.18 million annualized rate in February. (Sarah Very\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n

The multifamily figures \u201chave trended lower in recent months,\u201d but “look solid by the standards of the past few decades,\u201d wrote J.P. Morgan economist Daniel Silver. <\/p>\n

New housing is a key driver of economic growth, and construction has been strengthening steadily for much of the past year. <\/p>\n

More housing construction tends to mean more jobs \u2013 not just for the construction industry, but for suppliers of all the products that go into new-built homes, from washing machines and carpeting to picture windows and air conditioning units. Economists seemed optimistic about this month\u2019s results for the broader economy. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe housing recovery is alive and well,\u201d wrote Brian Wesbury, economist at First Trust Advisors L.P, noting the rise in single-family starts. \u201cThe surge in single-family building is especially important, as each-single family home contributes to GDP about twice the amount of a multi-family unit.\u201d <\/p>\n

On the other hand, Comerica Bank economist Robert A. Dye said last month\u2019s new-construction reading was \u201cstill modest by historic standards.\u201d He pointed to a geographic pattern in starts. <\/p>\n

Housing starts were up 7.1 percent in the south, 19.9 percent in the Midwest and 26.1 percent in the west. In contrast, \u201cThe Northeast saw a big 51.3 percent decline, likely weather-related,\u201d Dye wrote. \u201cThis pattern suggests that starts in the Northeast will rebound next month, supporting the U.S. totals.\u201d <\/p>\n

Despite the jump in starts, building permits were soft in February. <\/p>\n

Building permits, which are considered an indicator of future construction, dipped 3.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.17 million from 1.2 million last month. Despite that slippage in February, permits are up 6.3 percent versus a year ago. <\/p>\n

Single-family authorizations were at 731,000 in February, up 0.4 percent from January\u2019s 728,000. Reflecting the sector\u2019s continuing recovery, permits are up a solid 16.8 percent over the past twelve months.<\/p>\n

Economists say they aren\u2019t too concerned with the slip in overall building permits. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect housing to continue to be a bright spot in 2016-17,\u201d wrote Wesbury. \u201cBased on population growth and \u2018scrappage,\u2019 housing starts should rise to about 1.5 million units per year, so a great deal of recovery in home building is still ahead of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Silver was also optimistic. \u201cWith these latest figures in hand, it looks like real residential investment will have a pretty strong quarter\u2026 we think there will be solid growth in permanent structures investment during the quarter, and even stronger gains in some of the other components,\u201d such as residential improvements and brokers\u2019 commissions. <\/p>\n

Photo at top: Housing starts rose by 5.2 percent in February, as single family starts reached a nine-year high. (Photo: Flickr)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sarah Very Construction of new homes jumped unexpectedly in February to their highest level in five months, bolstered by a spike in single-family home-building. Housing starts jumped 5.2 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted 1.18 million annualized rate, outpacing January\u2019s upwardly restated 1.12 million pace, the U.S. Commerce Department said Wednesday. This outperformed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":38607,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,585],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-winter-2016"],"yoast_head":"\nSingle-family homes boost February housing starts - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/single-family-homes-boost-february-housing-starts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Single-family homes boost February housing starts - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Sarah Very Construction of new homes jumped unexpectedly in February to their highest level in five months, bolstered by a spike in single-family home-building. 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