Housing starts reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 926,000 units in March – an increase of about 2.0% compared to the annual rate of about 908,000 units in February but 2.5% below the annual rate of approximately 950,000 units in March 2014, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Starts of single-family units were running at an annual rate of about 618,000, an increase of 4.4% compared to the revised annual rate of about 592,000 in February.
Starts of multifamily units (five units or more per building) were at an annual rate of about 287,000 in March, down 7.1% compared to an annual rate of about 309,000 in February.
Permits were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 1.039 million in March – a decrease of 5.7% compared to the revised annual rate of about 1.102 million in February but an increase of 2.9% compared to the annual rate of about 1.010 million in March 2014.
Permits for single-family homes were at an annual rate of about 636,000 in March, an increase of 2.1% compared to 623,000 in February. Permits for multifamily units were at a rate of 378,000 in March, down 16% from about 450,000 in February.
Housing completions in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 823,000 units – a decrease of 3.9% compared to an estimated 856,000 units in February and 5.8% below the 874,000 recorded in March 2014.
Single-family housing completions were at an annual rate of about 602,000 units in March, an increase of 0.8% compared to about 597,000 units in February. Multifamily unit completions were at an annual rate of about 211,000, a decrease of 12.1% compared to about 240,000 in February.