The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported last week that housing starts in December grew at their fastest pace since June 2008. Nationwide, single-family and multi-family housing starts rose by 12.1%, or 954,000 units, over November 2012 housing starts. Single-family starts rose by 8.1% while multi-family starts jumped 23.1%. “Combined single-family and multifamily starts activity was up across all regions in December. The Northeast posted a gain of 21.4%, the Midwest was up 24.7%, the South posted a 3.8% increase and the West was up 18.7%.”
Even though the largest increase in housing starts was attributed to multi-family housing, analysts believe that residential construction boosted the economy last year and anticipate home building to further contribute to the economy in 2013. http://bit.ly/WTsCpF