Housing starts fell in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.099 million, 3.8 percent below December’s revised estimate of 1.143 million, but 1.8 percent above the January 2015 rate. Housing starts have remained above the 1.0 million rate for ten consecutive months.
Housing activity fell across all regions, with starts falling 12.8 percent in the Midwest, 3.7 percent in the Northeast, 2.9 percent in the South and 0.4 percent in the West.
New building permits also fell in January, falling 0.2 percent below the December rate to 1.202 million, but grew 13.5 percent from January 2015.
Housing completions grew in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.057 million, a 2.0 percent monthly increase, and an 8.4 percent increase from a year ago.
Read the Census release.
