U.S. housing starts rose to a seasonally-adjusted rate of 7.2 percent in March to an annual rate of 549,000 new units. Still, the bounce back in residential construction does not signal recovery as an over- supply of homes continues to discourage builders from embarking on new projects.
“It’s mainly a rebound from previous month’s decline. We still think the housing market is very weak, and the high inventory is still depressing sales and prices,” said Sireen Harajli, an economist at Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank in New York.
“We hope to see some signs of improvement toward the end of the year, but we won’t see substantial improvement until 2012.”
Source: Reuters