?EUR??,,????'??The underlying market fundamentals remain solid,?EUR??,,????'?? said David Pressly, president of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). ?EUR??,,????'??Job and income growth are moving ahead at healthy levels. Today?EUR??,,????'???s starts numbers are another indicator that points towards an orderly cooling down process for the housing market in 2006.?EUR??,,????'??

Single-family home construction dipped 2.3 percent to 1.8 million units. Multifamily starts fell 30.4 percent to 320,000 units after posting an unsustainably high level of 460,000 units in January.

?EUR??,,????'??So far this year, housing starts have received a boost from unusually mild winter weather, even in February, and we expect to see these numbers move further down in the months ahead,?EUR??,,????'?? said NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders.

Privately-owned housing completions in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.022 million. This is 1.7 percent below the revised January estimate of 2.058 million, but is 5.2 percent above the February 2005 rate of 1.922 million. Single-family housing completions in February were at a rate of 1.699 million, 2.4 percent above the January figure of 1.659 million. The February rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 241,000.

Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.145 million. This is 3.2 percent below the revised January rate of 2.216 million, but is 2.5 percent above the February 2005 estimate of 2.093 million. Single-family authorizations in February were at a rate of 1.639 million, three percent below the January figure of 1.690 million. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more wee at a rate of 417,000 in February.