The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly announced the following new residential construction statistics for February 2011.

Images courtesy of Mike Blake/Reuters/Corbis

According to HUD and the Census Bureau, privately-owned housing completions in February were at a seasonally adjust rate of 581,000, a 13.9 percent increase from the January estimate of 510,000. Single-family home completions in February totaled 468,000, an increase of 11.2 percent from the January rate of 421,000.

Despite an increase in housing completions, privately-owned housing starts decreased 20.8, from a 618,000 estimate in January to February’s 479,000. Single-family starts in February were at 375,000, down 11.8 from the revised January figure of 425,000.

Building permits also decreased in February compared to January. Authorization of privately owned units by building permits was at 517,000, an 8.2 percent decrease from the January rate of 563,000. February single-family authorizations were at 382,000, down 9.3 percent from January.

New Residential Construction data for March 2011 will be released on Tuesday, April 19, 2011, at 8:30 A.M. EDT on http://www.census.gov/newresconst.