Led by a 6% rise in single-family starts, nationwide housing production rose 2.8% above an upwardly revised February rate of 920,000 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 946,000 units in March, according to newly released figures from HUD and the U.S. Census Bureau.
"We see improving signs of new-home construction as we move into the spring buying season," said Kevin Kelly, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder and developer from Wilmington, Del. "The strongest recovery is in the Northeast and Midwest, where builders were hampered by severe winter weather earlier in the year."