Housing starts take a seasonal dive in February

Housing starts fell way below the previous month's mark in February, though the dip was consistent with seasonal patterns from a year prior.

Starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 897,000 last month, which is 17.0% below the revised January estimate of 1,081,000.

This is also 3.3% below February 2014's rate of 928,000.

Meanwhile, single-family starts clocked in at 593,000 for the month, which is 14.9% below January's.

The data for building permits suggests good things ahead, however. February's figure was a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,092,000, up 3.0% from the revised January rate of 1,060,000 and 7.7% above year-ago figures.

Single-family building permits were at 620,000, or 6.2% below January's figure of 661,000.

Regionally, the South took home the bulk of housing starts activity (514,000 for the month). Declines occurred across the board, however, most notably in the Northeast region.