u.s. housing starts decline 4.8% in february, 2006

U.S. HOUSING STARTS DECLINE 4.8 PERCENT IN FEBRUARY

The seasonally adjusted annual rate for privately owned housing starts declined to 2.12 million units in February, according to a report released by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce.

The February construction pace was down 4.8 percent from a year ago. Single-family housing starts decreased 0.4 percent from February 2005, to a rate of 1.8 million units, while starts for buildings with five or more units fell 25.3 percent to 275,000.

The number of building permits issued, which can be an indicator of future building activity, edged up last month, climbing 2.5 percent from one year earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.15 million permits.

Regionally, the South posted the largest increase in housing starts at 2.3 percent, followed by a 0.2 percent increase in the West.

The rate for privately owned housing starts declined 12.1 percent in the Northeast and fell by 24.7 percent in the Midwest.

**taken from the California Association of Realtors bulletin, dated March 23, 2006.