WASHINGTON, March 17, the US Census Bureau reported on Thursday that new housing construction increased by 6.8% in February compared to January in the US market during the period of rising inflation when material prices rose due to supply problems. According to data from the Census Bureau, construction of 1,769,000 houses with private shares began in February, an increase compared to 1,657,000 that began in January. The figure for February is 22.3% higher than the same month of 2021, when it reached 1,447,000. Most of the newly built houses are single-family homes (69%), while the rest are apartments located in buildings with five or more houses. The Census Bureau also reported that 1,309,000 houses were completed last month, 5.9% less than in January and 2.8% less than homes completed a year ago. The number of permits issued in connection with the approval of housing construction by the competent authorities decreased by 1.9% compared to January, reaching 1,859,000. This data is released at a time when the United States is experiencing a very high inflation rate of 7.9%, which is partly due to a bottleneck in the global supply chain that caused a significant increase in the price of building materials. Reform/Copy