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The home building in the United States is off to a slow start in 2015, though the builders in the country remained upbeat amid low interest rates, steady job creation and improving weather conditions.
The housing starts in the country increased two percent from February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 926,000 in March, according to the US Commerce Department report on Thursday.
So far, this year the US housing starts are averaging just 969,000 per month as compared to only more than one million in 2014.
The housing starts on single-family units, excluding apartments and represent nearly two-thirds of the country’s market, jumped 4.4 percent. The multifamily units, which include condominiums and apartments, dropped 2.5 percent.
On the other hand, the number of new applications for building permits tumbled 5.7 percent.
Several economists had projected overall housing starts in March to climb to a rate of 1.04 million. Most thought weather condition discouraged activity earlier in the year and had expected to witness signs of a spring rebound.
J.P. Morgan Chase economist Daniel Silver said, “The lack of remarkable bounce-back in the March data raises several questions about the underlying strength in the country’s housing market since we believe the March data should have been mostly free from any negative weather impact.”
The confidence index of the National Association of Home Builders surged four points to a reading of 56 in the month of April, according t o the industry group. A reading above 50 signifies that most builders are holding a favorable view of the market for newly built, single-family homes.
