Housing Starts Slide 22.5% in February

March 25, 2011
The U.S. Census Bureau reported that privately owned housing starts plummeted in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 479,000, 22.5% below

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that privately owned housing starts plummeted in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 479,000, 22.5% below the revised January estimate of 618,000 and 20.8% percent below the February 2010 rate of 605,000. Single-family housing starts dropped 11.8% in February to 375,000, 11.8 percent below the revised January figure of 425,000. The February rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 96,000.

Building permits were down, too, as privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 517,000, 8.2 percent below the revised January rate of 563,000 and 20.5 percent below the February 2010 estimate of 650,000. Single-family authorizations in February were at a rate of 382,000, 9.3% below the revised January figure of 421,000.

New Privately Owned Housing Units Started

(Thousands of units, seasonally adjusted annual rate)

PeriodTotal1 Unit5 Units or moreNortheastMidwestSouthWestFebruary 2010 605 527 62 72 105 285 143 October 2010 533 433 88 81 94 263 95 November 2010 548 455 79 77 109 265 97 December 20102 522 419 95 57 66 266 133 January 20112 618 425 181 88 111 301 118 February 20111 479 375 96 55 57 282 85

1-Preliminary; 2-Revised; Note: Detail may not add to total because of rounding.

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census