• Most Popular
  • Most Shared

U.S. housing starts rebound

WASHINGTON
Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:18am EDT
Construction workers frame a house at a new home development in Ottawa July 9, 2008. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

Construction workers frame a house at a new home development in Ottawa July 9, 2008.

Credit: Reuters/Chris Wattie

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New U.S. housing starts unexpectedly rebounded in February, surging 22.2 percent, according to data on Tuesday that provided a rare dose of good news for the recession-hit economy and fractured housing market.

U.S.  |  Housing Market  |  Economy

The Commerce Department said the jump in housing starts to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 583,000 units was the biggest percentage rise since January 1990.

That was also the first increase since April last year, when they advanced by 1.6 percent. January's housing starts were revised to a rate of 477,000, the department said.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected an annual rate of 450,000 units for February.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani, Editing by Andrea Ricci)
U.S.
Housing Market
Economy


More from Reuters

Photo

Honda expands airbag recall as more Toyotas probed

TOKYO/DETROIT (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co said it would recall another 440,000 cars around the world for faulty airbags as rival Toyota Motor Corp faced further probes over its largest-ever safety crisis. | Video

» More Top News
Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke testifies before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington July 22, 2009. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
John Kemp:

The Fed needs a new storyline

It's irrelevant whether the Fed sells its assets back to the market. What matters is whether and when it's prepared to raise rates.  Commentary 

Economy
A worker drives a Toyota Motor Corp's newly assembled Prius hybrid vehicle onto a trailer near the company's plant in Toyota, central Japan February 9, 2010.REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao
Reuters Breakingviews:

Toyota's troubles in overdrive

The cost of Toyota's recall nightmare is nothing compared to the price of fixing its battered reputation.  Commentary 

Autos