Housing Starts Jump in January

The pace of new home and apartment construction in January soared to its highest level in more than three decades as unseasonably warm weather allowed builders to break ground on more projects than expected, the government said Thursday.

Housing starts, a measure of new construction activity, jumped 14.6% in January from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.28 million homes and apartments, according to the Commerce Department. Last month's rate of new construction was the highest since March 1973, according to Associated Press.

In addition, new building permits, an indication of future construction activity, rose 6.8% in January from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.22 million homes and apartments.

But industry analysts warned that the much-stronger-than-expected results in January were temporary and that most other economic reports pointed to a continued slowing in the housing market. For example, mortgage rates have been rising from record lows, and sales of new and existing properties have begun to moderate nationwide.

Source: Associated Press