Tariff fears didn’t slow down builders in the South as housing starts skyrocketed in February, according to the latest data from the Census Bureau.
- Building permits skyrocketed to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 815,000 in February, this was a 18.3% jump from January and is the second highest level in the last twelve months.
- Single-family starts were even better jumping almost 20% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 815,000 in February, the second highest level in the last twelve months.
Building permits were also in the green, though not as big of a jump as starts, with building permits rising to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 806,000 in February, up 1.0% from the prior month and the second highest level in the last six months.
- Single-family permits rose 3.7% to seasonally adjusted annual rate of 590,000 in February, the second highest level in the last twelve months.
Housing completions saw a slight jump with completions rising to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 885,000 in February, up 5.9% from January and the highest level since November.
- Single-family completions rose just 0.4% in February which was the highest level since November.
Nationally, the data was mixed. Building permits fell 1.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.45M in February, the lowest level since October. Economists had expected a smaller drop to 1.47M.
- Housing starts jumped 11.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.5M in February, this was the highest level since January 2024. Economists had expected a slight drop to 1.34M.
Bottom Line: This is a solid report. However, it is important to note that the tariff uncertainty didn’t really kick off till mid-February so we may not have an accurate picture of residential construction especially based on the homebuilder confidence report for March.
