US housing starts rebounded modestly in January, as predicted, but the increase was primarily in the volatile multi-family category and starts of single-family houses continued to decline in most of the country.
The Commerce Department said total January starts rose 0.8 per cent to a 1.012 million unit annual rate, up from the slightly lower revised December number of 1.004 million units.
Economists were expecting a mild rebound to a 1.010 million unit rate after a combined November-December plunge of more than 20 per cent.
'January's increase in starts was the first in four months, but it was too small to raise excitement,' said Thomson IFR Markets economist Jeoff Hall.
Building permits in January fell 3 per cent to 1.048 million units, close to the expected 1.040 million rate.
New construction of single family homes fell 5.2 per cent to a 743,000 unit annual rate, while multi-family construction rose 17.6 per cent to 247,000 units started.
By region, the Northeast had the biggest increase, 18.9 per cent and also had an exception to the fall in single-family decline with a 43.8 per cent rise. Severe weather had hampered starts in December.
The Midwest had a 12 per cent rise in starts overall with flat single-family construction. The South had a 2.9 per cent drop with single-family homes dropping 9.8 per cent. And in the West, the total fell 6.2 per cent with the worst performance for single family homes, down 20.3 per cent.