United States Housing Starts

Housing starts in the US unexpectedly soared 11.2% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1.501 million in February 2025, way above a downwardly revised 1.35 million in January and forecasts of 1.38 million. It follows an 11.5% plunge in the previous month when severe snowstorms and frigid temperatures disrupted construction activity. Single-family housing starts jumped 11.4% to 1.108 million and the starts for multi-unit buildings, with five or more units, went up 12.1% to 0.37 million. Regionally, housing starts rose the most in the Northeast (47.4% to 0.143 million), the South (18.3% to 0.815 million) and the West (5.9% to 0.410 million). In contrast, sales sank 24.9% to 0.133 million in the Midwest.