Total housing starts increased 9.7% (7.3% y/y) during January to 1.326 million (AR) from 1.209 million in December, revised from 1.192 million. It was the highest level of starts since October 2016. A level of 1.227 million starts had been expected in the Action Economic Forecast Survey.

Starts of single-family homes improved 3.7% (7.6% y/y) to 877,000 from 846,000. Multi-family starts jumped 23.7% (6.7% y/y) to 449,000 from 363,000.

Movement in starts last month varied around the country. Housing starts in the West gained 10.7% to 393,000, the highest level since December 2006. Starts in the South increased 9.3% to 655,000 after an 11.3% fall. Starts in the Northeast jumped 45.3% to 128,000, the highest level in three months. In the Midwest, starts declined 10.2% to 150,000, the lowest level since March of last year.

Building permits increased 7.4% both m/m and y/y to 1.396 million after a 0.2% December dip. Single-family permits declined 1.7% (+7.4% y/y) to 866,00 and reversed December's gain. Permits to build multi-family homes jumped 26.5% (+7.3% y/y) to 530,000, after falling 4.3%.

The housing starts and permits figures can be found in Haver's USECON database. The expectations figure is contained in the AS1REPNA database.