Housing Starts Jump 7% in March

By Stevie Duffin Updated on 4/16/2013

By Daniel Duffield

From February to March, U.S. housing starts rose a notable 7%, with a 46.7% increase over the previous year, according to a statement made by the U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday.

Rates for housing starts grew to an annual level of 1.03 million units, rising from 968,000 in February and growing considerably from the 706,000 units in February 2012.

In spite of this growth, single-family housing starts fell during March, declining to 619,000 in a 4.8% drop from the 650,000 units in February.

In addition to single-family housing, building permits also saw a decline in March from February levels, dropping 3.9% with 902,000 permits compared to 939,000 units recorded in February. However, March figures still constitute a 17.3% rise from March 2012 figures of 769,000 permits.

Unlike single-family housing starts and building permits, property completions saw an increase in March, growing to a rate of 800,000 units in March at 11% over February figures of 721,000 units. Moreover, this rate constitutes a 36.3% growth over the previous March.

According to Bob Walters, chief economist for Quicken Loans, housing starts saw a 7% increase in new housing construction projects within March, nearly reaching a five year peak.

Due to the confined demand, home building growth has been stimulated to the 7% rise in starts for March. While homeowners seek home purchase loans in the hopes of buying their ideal properties, the current inventory is not enough to satisfy this consumer demand, forcing consumers to begin construction projects. Such a phenomenon indicates that the economy is gaining strength, supported by the jump in mortgage applications seen last week and the continually increasing home prices.