Housing Starts Encouraging

Data from the National Association of Home Builders provide further evidence that the economy has bottomed out and is on the way to recovery. In an earlier issue of Spotlight we noted that housing starts had slowed in response to the recession that began in March 2001. Now, data just released by the National Association of Home Builders show that new homes were started at an annualized rate of 1,769,000 units in February, of which 92.4 percent were single unit. This was the highest rate since December 1998, and the highest rate on single-family housing starts since December 1978. The year-to-year changes by month are shown in the accompanying table.

Source: National Association of Home Builders