Housing starts in February rose 0.8 percent from January, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 917,000, the Census Bureau said Tuesday.

The rate is 27.7 percent above February 2012. Single-family starts were running at a 618,000 annual rate, up 0.5 percent from January.
In addition, building permits for future construction were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 946,000, up 4.6 percent from January and 33.8 percent above February 2012. Single-family permits were issued at a 600,000 annual rate, up 2.7 percent from January.
The improving housing economy played out in Oregon. The construction industry added 2,700 jobs to the state during February, its best showing in months.
Even so, Oregon’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate held at 8.4 percent in February, the same rate as January.
“Oregon’s unemployment rate has seen little change in the past six months,” said state employment economist Nick Beleiciks on Tuesday.
But the manufacturing sector had a better than expected showing in February. Oregon’s manufacturers added 1,100 jobs when a gain of 300 jobs would be the normal seasonal pattern.
“We’ve seen pretty broad based recovery in manufacturing,” Beleiciks said. Manufacturers making wood products, machinery and metal items have experienced an uptick in hiring, he said.
The national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is 7.7 percent.
The National Association of Home Builders reported Monday that confidence among homebuilders fell this month because of concerns that increased demand for new homes is exceeding supplies of ready-to-build land, building materials and workers.
Those constraints could slow sales in the short term. But builders’ outlook for sales during the next six months is stronger than it’s been in more than six years.
The NAHB/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released Monday fell to 44 from 46 in February. It was the second decline since January, which was preceded by eight consecutive monthly gains. A measure of current sales conditions declined from February’s reading.
Readings below 50 suggest negative sentiment about the housing market. The last time the index was at 50 or higher was in April 2006.