Single-Family Construction Drives Housing-Starts Growth
In February, single-family housing starts increased by 11.4%, bringing them to their highest level in a year
March 19, 2025
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Data for February show single-family starts increased by more than 11% year-over-year.
Despite high material costs and an ongoing construction labor shortage, limited housing inventory boosted single-family home construction in February. According to the National Association of Home Builders’ Eye On Housing blog, total housing starts rose by 11.2% to an annualized rate of 1.5 million units. Single-family starts drove most of this growth, recording an 11.4% increase—the highest level recorded since February 2024. Multifamily starts, including apartments and condos, rose by 10.7% to 393,000 units. Housing starts increased the most in the West, which saw an increase of more than 20%. However, in the Northeast, Midwest, and South, housing starts declined by 4.7%, 21.5%, and 8.3%, respectively.
While solid demand and a lack of existing inventory provided a boost to single-family production in February, our latest builder survey shows that builders remain concerned about challenging housing affordability conditions, most notably elevated financing and construction costs as well as tariffs on key building materials.Read more
