Home building bounces back

Housing construction rose substantially last month across the country, making up for some of the slowdown that happened earlier in the year.

Housing starts were up 20.2 percent in April compared with March, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.135 million units, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced Tuesday.

That was the highest number of housing starts recorded since 2007 and the largest month-over-over month percentage increase in nearly 24 years.

Both housing sectors registered production gains last month.

Single-family housing starts were up 16.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted yearly rate of 733,000, while multifamily starts rose 27.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted 402,000 units, according to the department’s monthly report on the U.S. housing market.

Issued permits, which analysts watch closely because they’re considered an indicator of how many permits are likely to be issued during the next few months, were up 10.1 percent last month to a rate of 1.143 million.

The gains made in April compensate for some of the housing starts that were lost during the first quarter, said David Crowe, chief economist with the National Home Builders Association in Washington, D.C.

“The April gains make up for the production dips we saw in the past two months, but single-family housing is still only about halfway back to what could be considered a normal market,” Crowe said in a statement. “With low interest rates and affordable home prices, we expect more upward momentum in the months ahead.”