According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Census Bureau, housing starts in February – both multifamily and single-family – were up by 6.8% percent in February and have increased by 22.3 percent over a year ago. All good news, particularly in the multifamily sector – which includes apartments and condos – which saw an increase of 9.3 percent which could translate to 554,000 units.

However, a real concern is the continued rise of building maters – up 31.3 percent since January 2020.