Homebuilders broke the 1 million mark in March for the first
time since June 2008. The gain signals continued strength for the housing
recovery at the start of the spring buying season.
The overall pace of homes started rose 7 percent from
February to March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.04 million, the
Commerce Department said Tuesday.
Apartment construction, which tends to fluctuate sharply
from month to month, led the surge: It jumped nearly 31 percent to an annual
rate of 417,000, the fastest pace since January 2006.
By contrast, single-family home building, which makes up
nearly two-thirds of the market, fell 4.8 percent to an annual rate of 619,000.
That was down from February’s pace of 650,000, the fastest since May 2008. The
government said February’s pace was a sharp 5.2 percent higher than it had
previously estimated.
The modular home industry produces about 2.5% of those starts which equates to just over 15,000 homes. YUCK! The modular housing industry produces a superior product, delivered faster and we still can’t get our numbers up.
Applications for building permits, a gauge of future
construction, declined 3.9 percent to an annual rate of 902,000. It was down
from February’s rate of 939,000, which was also nearly a five-year high.
