There was some good news in the New Residential Construction Report Housing released by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development this morning.  Housing starts dropped slightly from January, but permits were up significantly and both permits and starts were dramatically higher than one year earlier.  Many of the of the figures released last month on January activity were adjusted upward as well.  Other good news for the industry is the continued improvement in the multi-family sector.

Permits for privately-owned residential construction were issued at a seasonally adjusted rate of 717,000 units, a 5.1 percent increase over the rate in January which was itself revised upward from 676,000 to 682,000.  February's rate is 34.3 percent above the pace one year earlier when the annual rate was 534,000 units.

Single family permits were issued at a rate of 472,000, an increase of 4.9 percent from the January rate of 450,000 which was originally reported at 445.000.  Permits in buildings with five units or more were estimated at 219,000 compared to 212,000 in January and 137,000 one year ago.

Housing starts in the private sector were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 698,000, down 1.1 percent from January but 34.7 percent higher than the 518,000 rate in January, 2011.  The January estimate of 699,000 was revised to 706,000 starts.

There were 457,000 single-family housing starts in February, down 9.9 percent from January figure which was revised down from 508,000 units to 507,000 but there was a big jump in construction starts in buildings with five or more units, from 181,000 units in January to 233,000 in February.  The January number was also bumped up from an original estimate of 175,000 units.

Housing starts were up 6.2 percent from January's upwardly revised estimate of 535,000 to an annual rate of 568,000 but down 7.0 percent from the February 2011 rate of 611,000.  Single family completions were at a rate of 421,000 up 8.2 percent from January but 12.7 percent lower from one year ago and multi-family units were completed at a rate of 144,000 compared to 138,000 in January and 121,000 in February, 2011.

At the end of the period there were 444,000 homes under construction compared to 439,000 in January and 423,000 during the same period in 2011.

The rate of permitting increased from January in every region except the South while starts were down in both the Northeast and the West.  Both metrics increased substantially on a year over year basis.