US Housing Starts Exceed Forecast on Multifamily Construction
- Beginning construction rose almost 10% to 1.45 million pace
- Housing completions in February climbed to highest since 2007
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New US home construction increased in February for the first time in six months, led by a surge in starts of multifamily projects and suggesting the housing market may be starting to stabilize.
Residential starts rose 9.8% last month to a 1.45 million annualized rate, the fastest in five months, according to government data released Thursday. The pace of starts exceeded all forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of economists that had a median projection of 1.31 million.