NEWS

The numbers: U.S. home builders started construction on homes at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of roughly 1.77 million in February, representing a 6.8% increase from the revised figures for the previous month, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday. Compared with February 2021, housing starts were up 22%.

Meanwhile, permitting for new homes occurred at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of roughly 1.86 million, down 1.9% from January. Nevertheless, permitting activity was up 7.7% from a year ago.

Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected housing starts to occur at a median pace of 1.7 million and building permits to come in at a median pace of 1.85 million.

What happened: A 5.7% increase in single-family starts drove the overall increase in new construction in February. Regionally, the Northeast saw the most notable improvement in housing starts with a nearly 29% increase on a monthly basis, while the West was the only part of the country to see decreased activity.

Permitting activity declined for both single-family and multifamily housing projects in February. However, there was significant regional variation. There were more building permits issued in the Northeast and West on a monthly basis, with 23% and 2% increases respectively, in February. But permitting activity declined in the Midwest and South.

The numbers: U.S. new-home sales decreased 2% to an annual rate of 772,000 in February, the government said Wednesday. That figure represents the number of homes that would be sold over a yearlong period of time if the same number of properties were bought each month based on the rate of sales in February.

Compared to a year earlier, sales were down more than 6%. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected new-home sales in February to drop to an annual rate of 805,000.

What happened: The supply of new homes for sale rose between January and February to a 6.3-month supply of units. In January, new home inventories were already at the highest level since 2008, according to Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics.

On a regional basis, new home sales varied significantly. The Northeast recorded a roughly 59% uptick in sales, while the figure for the West declined by 13%.

The average sales prices for a new home sold in February was $511,000, while the median price was $400,600.