Housing Starts Improve in April

Housing starts rose 2.6% in April, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

Starts rose to an annual rate of 717,000 units from a revised 699,000 in March that was higher than originally reported.

The level topped economists’ median forecast a 685,000 rate, Bloomberg reported.

Building permits, an indicator of future construction, fell from three-year high, slipping 7% to a 715,000 annual rate.

Single-family home starts, which account for about 85% of the total, rose 2.3% to a three-month high 492,000 rate.

Work on multifamily units, which is often more volatile, gained 3.2% to an annual rate of 225,000.

Starts rose 11.6% in the South and 6.7% in the Midwest, and fell in the Northeast and West, Commerce said.