But mortgage rates also continued to rise.

Total housing starts fell to a 1.638m annual rate in January from a 1.708m pace in December, a 4.1% decrease. From a year ago, total starts are up 0.8%. However, total housing permits were very strong again in January, posting a 0.7% gain to 1.899m versus 1.885m in December, the second consecutive 15-year high (see first chart). Total permits are up 0.8% from the January 2021 level.

Starts in the dominant single-family segment posted a rate of 1.116m in January versus 1.182m in December, a drop of 5.6% and are down 2.4% from a year ago. Single-family permits posted a 6.8% jump to 1.205m versus 1.128m in December (see first chart).

Starts of multifamily structures with five or more units decreased 2.1% to 510,000, but are up 8.7% over the past year, while starts for the two- to four-family-unit segment were up 140.0% at a 12,000-unit pace versus 5,000 in December. Combined, multifamily starts were off 0.8% to 522,000 in January and show a gain of 8.3% from a year ago.

Multifamily permits for the 5-or-more group fell 8.8% to 629,000, while permits for the two-to-four-unit category sank 3.0% to 65,000. Combined, multifamily permits were 694,000, off 8.3% for the month (see first chart), but up 12.8% from a year ago.