Housing starts bounced back to a moderate increase of 2.5 percent in February after falling a month earlier to the lowest level in six months, the government said Tuesday.
Construction of single family homes and apartments were up in every region except the South, rising 7 percent in the Midwest to an annual rate of 305,000.
Elsewhere, starts jumped 16.7 percent in the West to a 251,000 annual rate, 7.4 percent in the Northeast to 131,000 and down 6.3 percent in the South to 521,000.
The Commerce Department said starts totaled 1.21 million at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, up from 1.18 million in January. Many economists had expected starts to rise to 1.23 million.
The revised 8.4 percent drop in January was even larger than the initial 7.2 percent estimate. It pushed starts to the lowest level since they totaled 1.11 million last July.
Analysts had attributed the January plunge to unfavorable weather and an unsustainably high level of construction a month earlier, a 1.29 million annual rate.
Many observers believe the housing industry will continue to improve as the economy gains strength and mortgage rates remain low. But they said the pace of housing starts would slow this year to about half of last year’s 18 percent annual increase.
