New residential construction reached its highest in five months as there remains a huge demand for single-family homes.
This Bloomberg article goes into some detail about why this housing demand is so large.
According to estimates released jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, home starts rose 5.2% and increased with a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.18 units. An improvement from January’s estimate of 1.12 and is 30.9% above February 2015’s rate of 900,000.
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Authorized building permits for privately-owned housing units in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.7 units, a 3.1% decrease from last month, but above last year’s estimate of 1.1 million.
With a much steadier economy, U.S. homeowners are feeling comfortable in purchasing new homes, especially for first-time homebuyers.
Quoted from Marketwatch, Steve Blitz, chief economist at ITG Investment Research said housing continues to be a “bright spot” for the U.S. economy.
Construction of single-family homes increased 7.2% to an 822,000 unit pace, the highest since November 2007.
While construction activity in the northeast were low at 51.3%, home starts increased 19.9% in the Midwest and 26.1% in the west regions. In the south, home starts were at 7.1%.
Housing starts for the volatile multi-family segment rose 0.8% to a 356,000-unit pace.
Click here to read more coverage on today's housing starts number.
