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From Home Furnishing Business
U.S. Housing Starts Climb 6.6% in April
May 17,
2016 by in Economic News, Industry 
Construction on new houses rebounded in April after a sharp dip in the prior month, although builders do not appear to be quite as busy as they were at the end of last year.
Housing starts climbed 6.6% last month to an annual pace of 1.17 million, the Commerce Department said today. In March, starts were revised to a 1.1 million rate. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected starts to rise at a seasonally adjusted 1.13 million clip.
Housing has been one of the economy’s strongest sectors of growth over the past few years, but sales and construction are not growing as fast in early 2016. Activity is expected to pick up as the prime buying season gets underway.
New construction sped up in the Midwest and South and declined in the Northeast and West, the government said.
Construction on apartments, condos and other buildings with at least five units surged 10.7%. Single-family home starts advanced a smaller 3.3%, though the South posted the biggest increase since the end of 2007.
Permits for new construction, a sign of future demand, rose 3.6% to an annual rate of 1.12 million. Permits are running 5.3% below year-ago levels, however. Rising prices may be scaring buyers off and construction companies complain about a shortage of skilled workers, a growing problem that could limit supply and keep prices at elevated levels.