WASHINGTON (AP) – Builders ramped up construction of new homes in April, suggesting that the market remains solid despite sluggish economic growth at the beginning of the year.
Housing starts climbed 6.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.17 million units, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. The increase makes up for much of March’s 9.4 percent drop in starts, a decline that partially reflected the volatile swings in residential construction on a monthly basis.
Ground breakings are running ahead of last year’s pace, largely because of a dramatic increase in the construction of single-family houses, especially in the Midwest and South. Relatively few existing homes are listed for sale, creating an incentive for developers to expand supplies through building. But a slow economy and turbulent stock market has overlapped with construction slipping so far this year in the West, where housing is generally more expensive.
Starts rose 22.2 percent in the Midwest and 14.1 percent in the South last month but dropped 10 percent in the West and 7.6 percent in the Northeast.
During the first four months of the year, home construction has advanced 10.2 percent. Single-family houses account for much of that gain. Apartment construction_a major driver of growth in recent years as more Americans shifted to rentals_has dipped slightly.