U.S. Home Construction Rises 9 Percent

Mar 20, 11:25 AM

Current Headlines: New U.S. home construction rose 9 percent after falling 14.3 percent the previous month, the U.S. Commerce Department said Tuesday.

The February rise brought housing starts to a seasonally adjusted 1.525 million unions from a revised 10-year low of 1.399 million in January.

Starts were down 28.5 percent compared with February 2006, the department said.

Builders' applications for new permits, considered a better gauge of future activity because they are not as affected by weather, fell 2.5 percent from January to an annual 1.532 million units, the department said.

Permits were down 28.6 percent from February 2006.

Completed new homes fell 9.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.66 million -- the lowest number since August 2003.

Regionally, construction rose 26.4 percent in the West, the best showing since January 1997, and up 18 percent in the South, the best results in nearly two years. It fell 29.7 percent in the Northeast, the biggest one-month plunge since December 1990, and 14.4 percent in the Midwest after a 16.4 percent drop in January.