Tuesday, May 19, 2009

There are mixed figures out on home construction. There was a rebound in single-family home building last month. But construction of multi-family units, such as apartments staged a steep plunge.

The Commerce Department says construction of new homes and apartments fell 12.8% last month to the lowest pace on records going back a half-century. Applications for new building permits dropped 3.3%.

Single-family construction and permits both rose, a signal that this bigger sector of home construction is starting to stabilize.

Construction of single-family homes rose 2.8% following a smaller gain in March and no change in February. Building permits for single-family homes were up 3.6% to a rate of 373,000 last month.