February housing starts up 35 percent from 2011

February 2012 saw 698,000 housing starts, an almost-35 percent increase from February 2011, according to data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Single-family starts were up 17.8 percent year-over-year.

Those 698,000 privately owned housing starts include both single- and multi-family units. That rate is up 34.7 percent from February 2011, when privately owned starts were at 518,000. Month-over-month, that number is 1.1 percent lower than January totals (706,000).

The rate for units in buildings with five units or more reached 233,000 in February.

Starts on single-family units settled at 457,000 last month, a 9.9 percent decrease from January, when starts in that category were at 507,000.

The federal release also included data on building permit activity and housing completions. Privately owned permit authorizations increased 5.1 percent from January to a total of 682,000; that number is 34.3 percent higher than the same time last year. Single-family authorizations rose 4.9 percent from January totals.

Privately owned housing completions rose 6.2 percent month-over-month from January to February.

To read the rest of the release, click here.