Washington, DC, March 16—-Housing starts in February hit a 21-year high, increasing 0.5 percent to a level of 2.195 million homes at an annual pace, according to the Commerce Department.
Economists had expected housing starts to drop 5 percent in February to an annual rate of 2.050 million units.
By region, starts rose 20.4 percent in the Midwest to 408,000 at an annual pace, the fastest since November 2003; 19.1 percent in the Northeast to 193,000; and 0.7 percent in the West to 552,000. They fell 8.1 percent in the South to 1.042 million.
The Commerce Department also revised starts in January upward to reflect a rate of 2.183 million units from a rate of 2.159 million initially reported for January.
Starts of single family homes rose 0.3 percent in February to a record 1.775 million-unit rate. Starts of multifamily homes increased 1.7 percent to a 420,000 annual rate.
Building permits in February were off 2.7 percent to 2.074 million units at an annual rate, after rising 3 percent the previous month.
February housing completions fell 1.5 percent to 1.868 million units at an annual rate from 1.896 million.
