Home construction picked up in February as Housing Starts, which measure the start of construction on homes, rose 9.8% from January. Building Permits, which are indicative of future supply, also rose 13.8%. While these overall numbers were higher, most of the growth was in multi-family units. Starts for single-family homes were up just 1.1% for the month but they’re still almost 32% lower than they were in February of last year.  Permits for single-family homes were also nearly 36% lower than last February.

What’s the bottom line? Single-family homes remain in high demand among buyers and the ongoing disparity between supply and demand should continue to be supportive of prices, especially when we see more hibernating buyers resume their home search. The dynamics in today’s market are very different from the housing bubble, where demand was waning but the supply of new homes was significantly increasing.