Housing starts fell 1.5% (+39.2% y/y) during February to 1.599 million units (SAAR) from 1.624 million in January, revised from 1.567 million. Starts in December were revised down to 1.601 million from 1.626 million. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 1.500 million starts.

Starts of single-family starts increased 6.7% (35.4% y/y) to 1.072 million, a new high for the economic expansion. This m/m strength was offset last month, however, by a 14.9% decline (+47.6% y/y) in multi-family starts to 527,000.

By region, last month's weakness in starts was led by a 41.4% decline (+41.6% y/y) in the Northeast to 126,000. It reversed the prior month's 51.4% jump. Starts in the West weakened by 18.2% (+49.0% y/y) to 374,000 and also more than reversed January's increase. Offsetting these declines was a 16.7% (32.1% y/y) to 210,000 starts in the Midwest. It made up most of the prior month's decline. In the South, starts increased 15.2% (36.8%y/y) to 889,000, the highest level since September 2006.

Building permits fell 5.5% (+13.8% y/y) to 1.464 million units from 1.550 million in January. Permits to build single-family homes increased 1.7% (+23.3% y/y) to 1.004 million, the highest level since May 2007, but the gain was countered by an 18.3% decline (-2.7% y/y) in multi-family permits to 460,000.

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