US housing starts jump 9.8% in February

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) – US housing starts jumped 9.8% in February, according to official data released on Thursday.

Housing starts, which measure the change in the number of new residential buildings beginning construction, stood at 1.45 million last month, the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported.

The figure was higher than market estimates of 1.31 million, but marked a 18.4% decline from 1.77 million in February 2022.

Building permits, a key indicator of demand in the market, soared 13.8% to 1.52 million this February.

The January figure for building permits was approximately at 1.34 million.

Annually, building permits saw a massive 17.9% decline from around 1.86 million in February 2022.