Housing Starts Surged In March; Pace Is Fastest In 5 Years

By Mark Memmott

Published April 16, 2013 at 7:51 AM CDT

A home under construction in Provo, Utah, earlier this year.

There was a 7 percent surge in housing starts last month, the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development report.

As The Associated Press notes, the pace of construction — 1.04 million starts, at an annual rate — is the fastest in nearly five years and is another sign that the housing sector continues to recover from its 2007-08 crash.

Also Tuesday morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said consumer prices fell 0.2 percent in March. The driving factor was a 4.4 percent plunge in gas prices.

Mark Memmott

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.

See stories by Mark Memmott