Construction of houses in the U.S. rose 2.8%

Housing starts in the U.S. rose 2.8% in March and reached an annual rate of 946,000 units, the highest in three months, the Commerce Department reported.

The government also revised its figures for February month and indicated that the rate of construction of 920,000 units in the year was reached, that is 13,000 more than the preliminary estimate.

Most analysts had estimated in March an annual rate of 990,000 units building.

Despite the increase, last month the start of construction of houses was 5.9% lower than in March 2013, which represents the largest annual decline since April 2011.

Last March the pace of construction of houses I rose 6%, to an annualized rate of 635,000 units. Construction of multifamily units, such as apartment buildings and condominiums, fell 3.1% and remained at an annual rate of 311,000 units.

Building permits, which are an indicator of future activity, fell 2.4% in March to 990,000 in the year. Most analysts had calculated that the annualized rate of 1.01 million permits reach.


The U.S. industrial production in March was 0.7% higher than the previous month, according to the Federal Reserve (Fed).

The Fed also revised its figures for February and noted that industrial production rose 1.2% this month.

The advances mean that the country's industrial output grew in the first quarter to an annual rate of 4.4%.

The manufacturing sector, which accounts for nearly three quarters of industrial production grew by 0.5% in March after a 1.4% increase in February.