January Housing Starts Slide -2.6% from December but Hang Tough Year-Over-Year

Privately-owned housing starts in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,246,000, 2.6% below the revised December estimate of 1,279,000, but 10.5% above the Jan. 2016 rate of 1,128,000. The U.S. Census Bureau said single-family housing starts in January were at a rate of 823,000, 1.9% above the revised December figure of 808,000.

“Some pull back in housing production is unsurprising after an overly strong multi-family reading last month,” said Robert Dietz, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), in a press release. “As we move forward in 2017, we can expect the multi-family sector to continue to stabilize and single-family production to move forward at a gradual but consistent pace.”