Privately-owned housing starts in February dropped to the lowest rate seen in years, according to the New Residential Construction Report released by the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Housing starts dropped 17 percent in February to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 897,000, which is 3.3 percent below the February 2014 rate of 928,000. The Northeast and Midwest regions saw the biggest drop in starts.
Single-family housing start rates also saw a decline in February, showing a rate of 593,000, a 14.9 percent drop from the January figure. Single-family housing completions in February were at a rate of 595,000, which is below the revised January rate of 677,000. Privately-owned housing completions in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 850,000, a 13.8 percent drop from the revised January estimate. This rate is 1.8 percent below the February 2014 rate of 866,000.
A bipartisan group of Senators has introduced a budget point of order to prevent a government plan that would use funds from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to offset federal spending. Led by Senators Mike Crapo and Mark Warner, a group of colleagues from the Senate Banking Committee introduced the bill Tuesday, in an effort to push Congress to get serious about exploring reform options for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Crapo said any increase of guarantee fees should be used to protect taxpayers from mortgage losses - not used as an artificial offset for new government spending.