Housing starts in the U.S. slipped 5.8 percent from February to March driven by a slowdown in the multi-family housing sector as starts for structures with five (5) or more units fell 19.8 percent from February, but total starts remain up 10.3 percent year-over-year.
Permit activity to start construction was up 30.1 percent in March year-over-year with applications for multi-family housing up 57.8 percent versus 30.1 percent for single-family homes.
In the west, starts were up 13.2 percent year-over-year (versus 41.1 percent in February), up 9.6 percent for single-family homes (versus 11.1 percent in February) while permit activity was up 44.4 percent, up 28.9 percent for single-family homes.
New Residential Construction: March 2012 [doc.gov]
U.S. Housing Starts Slip From January But Well Up Year-Over-Year [SocketSite]

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