US January New Home Starts Rise to the Highest Level in Nearly a Year

格隆汇 March 12｜US new home construction has increased for the third consecutive month, reaching the fastest pace in nearly a year, mainly driven by multi-family housing projects. Data released on Thursday showed that new home starts in January rose by 7.2%, with an annualized rate of 1.49 million units, exceeding market expectations. The growth was primarily fueled by a nearly 30% surge in multi-family housing construction, while single-family home starts declined. This report indicates that the real estate market saw some momentum at the beginning of the year, as lower mortgage rates and sales incentives offered by developers attracted potential buyers back into the market. This is gradually absorbing the backlog of inventory held by home builders and encouraging more construction activity. However, due to ongoing concerns about housing affordability and high construction costs, builder confidence remains subdued. Data released earlier this week showed that, following market disruptions caused by the Iran conflict, US mortgage rates recorded the largest weekly increase since September last year.