The US Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Tuesday that privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in March were at an annual rate of 594,000, up 11.2 percent (±2.6 percent) from the revised February rate of 534,000, but still down 13.3 percent (±1.3 percent) from March 2010. Single-family authorizations totaled 405,000, which reflects an increase of 5.7 percent (±1.1 percent) from February's figure of 383,000.
Census Bureau figures Tuesday also showed that privately-owned housing starts in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 549,000-7.2 percent (±18 percent) above the revised February estimate of 512,000, but 13.4 percent (±9.1 percent) below the March 2010 levels of 634,000 starts. Single-family housing starts in March were up 7.7 percent (±15 percent) from February to 422,000.
In February, housing starts fell 19 percent year-over-year, and 8.2 percent from January.