Housing Starts -- Including Multifamily -- Move Higher to Start the Year

Wells Fargo reports that housing starts climbed 2.8 percent in January to an annualized pace of 591,000 units.  There were gains in both single- and multi-family activity. Permits dropped in January but held on to roughly half of December’s gains. These gains occurred despite poor weather conditions up and down the East Coast.
Permits dropped 4.9 percent in January with declines concentrated in the multi-family sector. Single-family permits held above a half million units for the second straight month. The bank predicted continued activity in single-family in coming months.

Wells Fargo's Economics Group also reported that industrial production continued its gradual climb back to pre-recession levels, in its seventh straight monthly gain.