After the Housing Bust, Construction Shows Life

According to this article, as the housing market is moving toward more normal conditions, the home building industry is experiencing a recovery from its near-death levels. To be specific, the Census Bureau reported that housing sector rose 1.6% in March to a seasonally adjusted rate of 626,000. This is also the third consecutive monthly increase, and better than analysts had been predicting. But this is only a small improvement compared to construction’s steep fall over the last few years. For example, at the height of boom, more than two million homes were built each year. An economist, Joshua Shapiro, estimated that a considerable amount of the recent activity were a result of the tax credit, which is speeding to the expiration with little likelihood of being renewed. Another reason for caution is that most increase in March was a multi-unit construction, which tends to be volatile. Single-family homes are actually felling slightly.