February housing starts hold steady

Data released Tuesday by the Department of Commerce show privately owned housing starts in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 917,000.

The rate is 0.8% above the revised January estimate of 910,000. It's also 27.7% above the same rate a year ago.

Single-family starts were also up slightly in February, hitting a rate of 618,000, up 0.5% from the previous month.

Building permits were up 4.6% in February, reaching a rate of 946,000. That's up 33.8% from February 2012. Single-family building permits were up 2.7% in February, compared with January.