Housing Starts Rise 4.9%

Single-family housing starts rose 4.9% in December as builders ended the year with a surge in construction activity.The U.S. Commerce Department reported that single-family starts increased from a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.40 million units in November to 1.47 million units in December. "Given that interest rates were coasting downward in December, it is not that surprising that we would see housing starts follow suit," said Freddie Mac deputy chief economist Amy Cutts. She also noted that mild weather in the South and the West contributed to the December starts. For 2002, single-family starts totaled 1.36 million units, up 6.7% from 1.27 million in 2001. For 2003, the National Association of Home Builders is predicting that single-family starts will edge down to 1.31 million units. Meanwhile, multifamily starts rose 3.9% to 321,000 units in December. For all of 2002, multifamily starts totaled 306,300.