The U.S. Commerce Dept. said housing starts rose 5.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.178 million units in February. Single-family production increased 7.2% to 822,000 units and multi-family starts remained virtually unchanged at 356,000 units.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), Washington, D.C., said this is the highest level of single-family housing production since Nov. 2007. “February’s single-family gains indicate that this sector is strengthening in line with our forecast,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe in a press release. “As the U.S. economy firms, job creation continues and mortgage interest rates remain low, we should see further growth in housing production moving forward.”